Evolution of Spinal Cord Transection of Rhesus Monkey Implanted with Polymer Synthesized by Plasma Evaluated by Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

In spinal cord injury (SCI) there is damage to the nervous tissue, due to the initial damage and pathophysiological processes that are triggered subsequently. There is no effective therapeutic strategy for motor functional recovery derived from the injury. Several studies have demonstrated neurons growth in cell cultures on polymers synthesized by plasma derived from pyrrole, and the increased recovery of motor function in rats by implanting the polymer in acute states of the SCI in contusion and transection models.

Sensory and memory processing in old female and male Wistar rat brain, and its relationship with the cortical and hippocampal redox state.

The brain is one of the most sensitive organs damaged during aging due to its susceptibility to the aging-related oxidative stress. Hence, in this study, the sensory nerve pathway integrity and the memory were evaluated and related to the redox state, the antioxidant enzymes function, and the protein oxidative damage in the brain cortex (Cx) and the hippocampus (Hc) of young (4-month-old) and old (24-month-old) male and female Wistar rats. Evoked potentials (EP) were performed for the auditory, visual, and somatosensory pathways.

Long-Term Moderate Exercise Combined with Metformin Treatment Induces an Hormetic Response That Prevents Strength and Muscle Mass Loss in Old Female Wistar Rats.

Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterized by a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle mass and strength loss, as well as a poor physical performance, which as strongly been associated with aging. Sedentary lifestyle in the elderly contributes to this condition; however, physical activity improves health, reducing morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have shown that metformin (MTF) can also prevent muscle damage promoting muscular performance.

Effect of different anesthetic mixtures-ketamine-xylazine, ketamine-acepromazine and tiletamine-zolazepam-on the physiological and blood biochemistry parameters of male rhesus monkeys () at different ages.

Background: Anesthetic agents are commonly utilized in the handling of non-human primates for prevent the stress caused in physical exploration or physical restrain. For this reason, the objective of this work was to describe the effect of age and dissociative anesthetics (ketamine and tiletamine), and their combinations with acepromazine, xylazine and zolazepam, on the physiological and blood biochemical parameters in .

Methods: Eighty male were divided into four experimental groups depending on the anesthetic mixture applied.

Computed tomography is a feasible method for quantifying bone density in Macaca mulatta.

Osteopathologies are a result of advanced age and decreased bone density and represent a global health problem. It is therefore important to generate models for longitudinal studies of the pathophysiology in order to improve early diagnosis and develop preventive therapies. For this kind of research, the use of computed tomography (CT) to evaluate bone health offers advantages over other techniques since it provides more complete information.

Effect of age on electrical nerve conduction in the somatosensory pathway and its correlation with somatometry and plasma concentrations of musculoskeletal enzymes in male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) held in captivity.

Background: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) make it possible to obtain functional data on the activity of somatosensory pathway.

Objective: To evaluate the ontogeny of electrical nerve conduction in male rhesus monkeys using SEPs in correlation with the development of the musculoskeletal system based on somatometry and musculoskeletal enzymes.

Methods: Somatosensory evoked potentials of the medial and tibial nerves were performed, and somatometric measurements were obtained: total length, arm and forearm length, and thigh and calf length.

Baseline and post-stress seasonal changes in immunocompetence and redox state maintenance in the fishing bat Myotis vivesi.

Little is known of how the stress response varies when animals confront seasonal life-history processes. Antioxidant defenses and damage caused by oxidative stress and their link with immunocompetence are powerful biomarkers to assess animal´s physiological stress response. The aim of this study was A) to determine redox state and variation in basal (pre-acute stress) immune function during summer, autumn and winter (spring was not assessed due to restrictions in collecting permit) in the fish-eating Myotis (Myotis vivesi; Chiroptera), and B) to determine the effect of acute stress on immunocompetence and redox state during each season.

Electrical activity of sensory pathways in female and male geriatric Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), and its relation to oxidative stress.

Synapses loss during aging has been related to decreased neuronal excitability and reduced electrophysiological activity in the nervous system, as well as to increased brain damage. Those physiological and biochemical alterations have been related to the oxidative stress increase associated with old age. The main substrate of lipid peroxidation (LPX) in the central and peripheral nervous systems are the myelin sheaths, and their damage generates a delayed nerve conduction velocity.

Visual, auditive and somatosensory pathways alterations in geriatric rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Background: Synapses loss during aging is associated to neurophysiologic alterations that impair organism's health span, thus making the study and prevention of sensory decline relevant for healthy aging and welfare. Therefore the aim of this study was to obtain normative data related to the electrophysiological responses of the different neurosensory components in the visual, auditory and somatosensory pathways in healthy geriatric rhesus monkeys in captivity.

Methods: Twenty-four rhesus monkeys were divided in two groups: (i) Geriatric monkeys, 20-30 years of age, and (ii) Young monkeys, 7 years of age.

Multiple extrauterine pregnancy with early and near full-term mummified fetuses in a New Zealand white rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

Extrauterine pregnancy (EP) is infrequent in mammalian species and occurs when fertilized ova implant and develop outside the uterus. A common outcome is abdominal pregnancy resulting in mummified fetuses (lithopedia). Here we describe an unusual case of abdominal pregnancy with early and near full-term lithopedia.

Absence of the right wing of the ilium generated a compensatory scoliosis in rhesus monkey in captivity: diagnostic imaging and its alteration on the SEPNT.

Background: Congenital scoliosis (CS) is defined as lateral curvatures of the spine provoked by the anomalous development of the vertebral bodies. It is associated with neuromuscular anomalies, which can be genetic, caused by the compensation of discrepancies in the length of the extremities or intrarachidian anomalies.

Methods: This study was carried out in 2-year-old female, showed alterations in the gait, mainly in the hind limbs, a clumsy gait and a slight claudication in the right hindlimb.

Changes in blood parameters in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) during the first trimester of gestation.

Background: Regarding the good practice in the laboratory work, it is essential to have a broad spectrum of biochemical and hematological references in pregnant females to determine the health status of the colony.

Objective: To establish reference values to reveal changes in hematology and blood chemistry in pregnant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in their first trimester of pregnancy.

Methods: Twenty-eight females in reproductive stage were used, divided into two groups: 14 pregnant macaques in their first trimester and 14 non-pregnant used as the control group.

Piracetam-induced changes on the brainstem auditory response in anesthetized juvenile rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Report of two clinical cases.

Background: We describe two clinical cases and examine the effects of piracetam on the brainstem auditory response in infantile female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Results: We found that the interwave intervals show a greater reduction in a 3-year-old rhesus monkey compared to a 1-year-old rhesus monkey.

Discussion: In this report, we discuss the significance of these observations.

Preliminary studies of neurosensory and cardiopulmonary health compromise in captive- bred Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) suffering scoliosis.

Background: It has been widely documented that quadrupedal animals rarely display natural spontaneous scoliotic rachis deviations of the spinal column. The objective was to determine spinal deformities developed by geriatric monkeys of the Macaca mulatta species, by radiographical and tomographical studies of the vertebral column correlating morphological changes with altered physiological parameters and electrical neurosensorial conductivity of somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs).

Materials And Methods: A cohort of six geriatric monkeys was used: three non-scoliotic subjects and three monkeys with naturally acquired true scoliosis.

Latencies obtained of the somatosensory evoked potentials of the median and tibial nerve in rhesus monkey undergoing intrauterine laminectomy to simulate myelomeningocele.

Background: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) have been described as excellent indicators of the degree of medullar injury in degenerative and metabolic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). The prevalence of neural tube defects (NTD) is 6 cases/10,000 live newborns worldwide. It is thought that genetic as well as environmental factors contribute to the etiology of NTD.

New approach for graded compression spinal cord injuries in Rhesus macaque: method feasibility and preliminary observations.

Background: Current models of spinal cord injury (SCI) have been ineffective for translational research. Primate blunt SCI, which more closely resembles human injury, could be a promising model to fill this gap.

Methods: Graded compression SCI was produced by inflating at T9 an epidural balloon as a function of spinal canal dimensions in a non-uniform group of monkeys.

Characterization of spontaneous subclavian steal phenomenon in a female rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta).

In subclavian steal phenomenon (SSP), the subclavian artery develops a stenoocclusive disease proximal to the origin of the vertebral artery, leading to pronounced hemodynamic changes such as arterial flow reversal. Although SSP is a common echographic finding in humans, the phenomenon occurs only rarely in animals; consequently its physiologic features have not been reported previously. Here we describe the clinical and morphologic features of a spontaneous left SSP that was an incidental finding in an 18-y-old female rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta).

Radiographic incidence of spinal osteopathologies in captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Degenerative spinal disease is a leading cause of chronic disability both in humans and animals. Although widely seen as a normal occurrence of aging, degenerative spinal disease can be caused by various genetic, iatrogenic, inflammatory, and congenital factors. The objective of this study was to characterize the degenerative spine-related diseases and the age at onset in a random subpopulation of 20 captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta; male, 13; female, 7; age: range, 4 to 27 y; median, 18.

Somatosensory evoked potentials of median and tibial nerves in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) under captivity: influence of ontogenic status in neonatal, infant, young, adult, and senile stages.

Background: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) constitute a useful neurophysiologic tool commonly used to assess the functionality and developmental degree of the nervous system.

Objective: To analyze somatosensory pathways of the Macaca mulatta species throughout different ontogenetic statuses.

Methods: Twenty non-human primates were divided into five age-dependant groups.

Anesthetic management in intrauterine surgery to evaluate an experimental model of myelomeningocele in non human primates (Macaca mulatta).

Purpose: Evaluate the anesthetic management in intrauterine surgery to induce myelomeningocele in non human primates Macaca mulatta.

Methods: A total of nine fetuses had intrauterine surgery; laminectomy was performed on them in L5 and L6. The studied variables were: maternal death, fetus death, cardiac frequency, respiratory frequency, arterial pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation.

[Development of an animal model of myelomeningocele and options for prenatal treatment in Macaca mulatta].

Background: Myelomeningocele is the most common congenital malformation of the central nervous system, with a reported incidence of 4.4-4.6 cases/10,000 live births in the U.