Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Reston outbreak had a very significant impact on
the use of nonhuman primates in biomedical research.
Many commercial air carriers stopped transporting
nonhuman primates altogether (
Held, 1991
) and new
federal restrictions associated with increased surveillance
of incoming shipments added to the problems, risks, and
costs of importing nonhuman primates for research.
Perhaps more importantly, it did what B virus never did: it
marked the time when foreign exporters, importers, and
users became motivated to start thinking seriously about
microbiological quality control and SPF breeding. The
incident reaffirmed once more, perhaps for the last time,
that dependence on the supply of wild-caught nonhuman
primates involved more risks than the research community
could afford.
center that began operations at the Institute Pertanian in
Bogor in 1990. Started with 500 breeders in 1988, the
production colony on Tenjil steadily grew to a population
of more than 2500 by the late 1990s (D. M. Bowden,
personal communication, 2010). Darsono went on to also
establish another free-ranging breeding colony on the
island of Deli, near Tenjil, which provided long-tailed
macaques primarily for research in Japan.
In 1988, the free-ranging long-tailed macaques on the
island of Mauritius were found to be free of evidence of B
virus and the retrovirus infections that occurred in macaque
populations elsewhere (
Houghton, 1988
). The animals
were probably introduced to Mauritius in the 1700s by
traders. Their SPF status and an effective self-sustaining
management program have made these monkeys particu-
larly valuable for AIDS research and as an export
commodity for Mauritius.
Captive Breeding Goes Global
While captive breeding of nonhuman primates for research
was not unknown outside North America and western
Europe before, it was during this period that serious
attention was given to developing offshore breeding
resources. Such efforts were most significant in the
People's Republic of China (PRC), but occurred as well in
the Philippines, Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Mauritius.
Primarily, such breeding was viewed as a good business
opportunity by entrepreneurs who saw that the cost of
breeding in developing countries was low and that demand
for monkeys in the USA and Europe was relatively assured.
The proliferation of breeders in the PRC was so substantial
that a China Laboratory Primate Association was formed to
monitor breeding, establish export quotas, and to promote
improved husbandry and health standards (
Fang, 2007
).
One such example of the increasing attention being give
to SPF breeding abroad was the initiation of a cooperative
project led by the Washington NPRC, the Wake Forest
University's Department of Comparative Medicine, the
Oregon NPRC, and Charles Darsono, an energetic
Indonesian nonhuman primate exporter. The project led to
establishing a sustained yield, free-ranging production
colony of retrovirus-free long-tailed macaques on Tinjil
Island off the southwestern coast of Java in Indonesia.
Through the Interagency Research Animal Advisory
Committee, the successor of the IPSC, a number of federal
agencies contributed funds to start this important project
along with funds for AIDS research that were provided
through the NRPC program. The colony was intended to
provide a cost effective resource of SPF monkeys for both
Indonesian and US investigators with priority being given
in the latter case to AIDS research. Darsono worked
actively to recruit Indonesian veterinarians into the
program. Technical training in nonhuman primate medicine
was provided for them in the USA, and they were active
upon their return in establishing and staffing the primate
PRIMATE RESEARCH BEYOND THE YEAR
2000
Significant Scientific Advances
Mapping the Chimpanzee and Rhesus Monkey
Genome
A description of the status of primate research in the 1990s
as “alive and well” (
Bowden and Johnson-Delaney, 1996
)
seemed justified as well in the years that followed 2000. At
a time of many rapid advances in medical research, most of
the public probably thought first of monkeys when the use
of animals in biomedical research was mentioned even
though usage of nonhuman primates was probably less than
0.3% of the total. This perception was reinforced by the
attention given in the press, albeit mostly on the science
pages, to the announcements that the chimpanzee and
rhesus monkey genomes had been mapped (
Chimpanzee
Sequencing and Analysis Consortium, 2005; Rhesus
Macaque Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium,
2007
). These both contributed fundamentally to firmly
establishing genomics as a central and cohesive discipline
of biomedical research and to emphasizing the importance
of understanding at the molecular level. Genomics using
nonhuman primates was now considered uniquely valuable
in advancing knowledge in such areas as disease patho-
genesis and susceptibility, development of novel molec-
ular-based therapies, and genetic replacement. Giving
practical meaning to these words, however, were the actual
reports of successes in using nonhuman primates in cloning
and gene therapy research.
Genomic Research
The first report to gain widespread public attention was the
first birth of a genetically modified nonhuman primate,
