Primate Core

埃默里大学精神疾病神经科学中心（CNMD）的灵长类动物模型核心（Core 9002）将作为研究项目使用的所有非人类灵长类动物的来源。本核心的主要目标是建立、维持和表征一个非人类灵长类动物表观遗传早期生活压力（ELS）模型，该模型涉及恒河猴（M. mulatta）母子二代新生儿暴露于间歇性母亲分离形式的社会不稳定。在该方案中，从产后3个月开始，母亲从由4-5名女性和1名男性组成的社会群体中短暂（0.5、3或6小时）离开。每次分离的时间和持续时间都由伪随机时间表决定。动物在90天内（从3-6个月大）共经历36次分离。在过去的4年里，这个核心已经生产和表征了大约70只动物（大约100只）。从02年开始，每年20只动物)。广泛的神经内分泌和行为特征以及结构MRI进行确定和验证这些动物的表型。这个核心的一个重要目标是描述这些动物在经历青春期等重要转变时的发育变化。根据下丘脑和下丘脑外CRF系统的具体研究需要，将动物分配到单独的Conte项目中（项目0001）。

The Primate Animal Model Core (Core 9002) of the Emory University Center for Neuroscience of Mental Disorders (CNMD) will serve as the source of all non-human primates used by the Research Projects. The primary goal of this Core is to produce, maintain and characterize a non-human primate epigenetic early life stress (ELS) model involving neonatal exposure of rhesus monkey (M. mulatta) mother-infant dyads to social instability in the form of intermittent maternal separations. In this protocol, beginning at 3 months postpartum mothers are removed from social groups composed of 4-5 females and a single male for short (0.5, 3 or 6 hr) intervals. Both the timing and the duration of each separation are determined by a pseudo-randomized schedule. Animals experience a total of 36 separations over a 90 day period (from 3-6 months of age). Over the past 4 years, this Core has produced and characterized approximately 70 animals (approx. 20 animals per year beginning in year 02). Extensive neuroendocrine and behavioral characterization along with structural MRI is performed to determine and verify the phenotype of these animals. One important goal of this Core is to characterize developmental changes in these animals as they pass through significant transitions such as puberty. Animals are assigned to individual Conte Projects as required for specific studies of hypothalamic and extra-hypothalamic CRF systems (Project 0001), immune system function (Project 0009), acoustic startle (Project 0006), cognition and drug abuse liability (Project 0010), multimodal imaging of structural and functional neurocircuits (Project 0013). This procedure offers important advantages and sources of validity: (1) the contingencies imposed by the paradigm are naturalistic, infant development is influenced by unpredictable changes in mother's availability, (2) the demands are imposed during a critical period of development when infants solicit reassurance as they begin to explore their environment, (3) as found in some human psychopathologies, deficits are reflected in the capacity of monkeys to respond to stressful experiences as adults. Comparison of this primate model with the genetic and ELS rodent models (see Core 9001) will permit individual Research Projects to test the thesis that, in diverse species, similar neurocircuits and intracellular mechanisms are impacted by genetic and epigenetic factors across which give rise to a depressive-like syndrome. In addition to production, characterization and maintenance of these animals, Core 9003 will assist in sampling or surgical procedures, drug treatments, or necropsy as required by individual Research Projects. This organization allows consistency in animal handling and implementation of all protocols so that each Conte Research Project receives identically characterized and treated animals for study.