Primate Core

埃默里大学精神疾病神经科学中心的灵长类动物模型核心(核心9002)将作为研究项目使用的所有非人类灵长类动物的来源。这个核心的主要目标是建立、维护和表征一个非人类灵长类表观遗传早期生活应激(ELS)模型，该模型涉及恒河猴(M.Mulatta)母婴二元体在间歇性母体分离形式下暴露于社会不稳定的新生儿。在这项协议中，从3个月开始，将产后母亲从由4-5名女性和一名男性组成的社会团体中除名，时间间隔很短(0.5、3或6小时)。每次分离的时间和持续时间都由伪随机化调度来确定。在90天的时间里，动物总共经历了36次分离(从3到6个月大)。在过去的4年里，这个核心已经产生了大约70只动物(大约。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磁共振成像被用来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重大转变(如青春期)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，动物被分配到各个COTE项目(项目0001)， 免疫系统功能(项目0009)、声音惊吓(项目0006)、认知和药物滥用责任(项目0010)、结构和功能神经回路的多模式成像(项目0013)。这一程序提供了重要的优势和有效性来源：(1)该范式强加的偶然性是自然主义的，婴儿的发展受到母亲是否在场的不可预测变化的影响，(2)这些要求是在婴儿开始探索环境时寻求安慰的发育关键时期施加的，(3)正如在一些人类精神病理学中发现的那样，猴子在成年后对应激经历做出反应的能力存在缺陷。将这种灵长类动物模型与遗传和ELS啮齿动物模型(见核心9001)进行比较，将使个别研究项目能够测试这一论点，即在不同的物种中，相似的神经回路和细胞内机制受到遗传和表观遗传因素的影响，从而导致抑郁样综合症。除了这些产品的生产、表征和维护 根据个别研究项目的要求，Core 9003将协助动物取样或外科手术、药物治疗或尸检。该组织允许动物处理和所有协议的执行的一致性，以便每个CONTE研究项目接收相同的特征和被处理的动物用于研究。

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.