Development of an SPF Baboon Colony

描述(由申请人提供)：狒狒长期以来一直被用于生物医学研究，在某些应用中，它比其他灵长类物种具有相当大的优势。对于猕猴来说，研究动物正常菌群中的病毒可以对研究结果及其有效性产生相当大的影响，这一点对猕猴来说是很好的理解。众所周知，狒狒拥有许多已知感染人类和其他灵长类动物的疱疹病毒和逆转录病毒的类似物。尽管多个机构多年来成功地繁育了狒狒，但OUHSC新生的SPF狒狒项目是世界上唯一的此类项目。该计划的总体目标是发展一个活跃的、自给自足的狒狒繁殖群体，这些群体没有所有已知的五种狒狒疱疹病毒、四种逆转录病毒、SV40、麻疹和猴痘，主要用于支持NIH资助的全美生物医学研究项目。为了实现这一目标，我们提出了以下具体目标：1.继续衍生和扩展SPF菌落。每年大约有25名新婴儿被招募到SPF计划中。在要求的资助期内，最初的新兵将达到繁育年龄，SPF群体应该开始通过SPF动物所生的婴儿经历“内部增加”。2.改善SPF计划中婴儿的行为健康。在专业指导下，将逐步修改人工饲养婴儿的方案，以改善SPF群体中的狒狒在成长和成熟过程中的整体行为健康。3.在一个新的室内外畜栏设施中建立多年龄段的SPF狒狒繁殖群。目前正在建设的新设施建成后，SPF动物将被转移到其中，形成由不同年龄的动物组成的几个繁育群体。4.向美国国立卫生研究院资助的研究人员提供SPF狒狒。我们现在正在挽救数量有限的SPF雄性婴儿，以支持NHLBI/NIH和其他几个NIH支持的研究项目的关键需求，这些项目对SPF狒狒有着迫切的需求。随着种群开始成熟到繁殖状态，多余的雄性将被提供给研究界，用于NIH支持的生物医学研究项目。由于血清转换为一种病毒而从该计划中被扑杀的动物也将被用于研究项目，这些项目可以使用带有触发单个狒狒被扑杀的特定病毒的特定病毒。5.建立选定病毒的PCR检测方法，以分析这些病毒引起的SPF状态的破坏。从SPF计划中剔除的大多数婴儿都是CMV和HVP1造成的。为了在母体抗体减弱之前识别感染这些病毒的婴儿，我们将开发能够检测感染婴儿的聚合酶链式反应测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The baboon has long been used in biomedical research and, for certain applications, has considerable advantages over other primate species. As is well appreciated for macaques, viruses constituting the normal flora of research animals can have a considerable effect on research results and their validity. Baboons are known to harbor analogs of many of the herpesviruses and retroviruses known to infect humans and other primates. Despite many years of successful breeding of baboons by various institutions, the nascent SPF baboon program at OUHSC is the only one of its kind in the world. The overall goal of this program is to develop an active, self-supporting breeding colony of baboons that are free of all five known baboon herpesviruses, four retroviruses, SV40, measles and monkeypox and that are available primarily to support NIH- funded biomedical research programs throughout the US. To accomplish this goal we propose the following specific aims:1. Continue derivation and expansion of the SPF colony. Approximately 25 new infants will be recruited into the SPF program each year. During the requested funding period, initial recruits will reach breeding age and the SPF colony should begin to experience "internal additions" via infants born to SPF animals. 2. Improve the "behavioral health" of infants in the SPF program. Protocols for hand-rearing of infants will be progressively modified with professional guidance to improve the overall behavioral health of baboons in the SPF colony as they grow and mature. 3. Establish multi-aged breeding groups of SPF baboons in a new indoor/outdoor corral facility. When the new facility currently under construction is completed, SPF animals will be moved into it to form several breeding groups consisting of animals of varied ages. 4. Provide SPF baboons to NIH-funded researchers. We are now saving back a limited number of SPF infant males to support the critical needs of the NHLBI/NIH and a few other NIH supported research programs that have critical need for SPF baboons. As the colony begins to mature to breeding status, excess males will be made available to the research community for use in NIH-supported biomedical research programs. Animals culled from the program due to sero-conversion to one virus will also be made available for use in research on projects that can use baboons with the specific virus that triggered the culling of the individual baboon. 5. Establish PCR assays for select viruses to analyze breaks in SPF status due to these viruses. CMV and HVP1 have been responsible for the majority of infants culled from the SPF program. In order to identify infants infected with these viruses before maternal antibodies wane, we will develop PCR tests that can detect infected infants.