Optimization of capsaicin-induced dermal blood flow measurement by laser Doppler imaging in cynomolgus macaque.

Background: Capsaicin is used in several areas of non-human primate research including allodynia and dermal blood flow (DBF). The capsaicin-induced DBF increase was measured using laser Doppler imaging (LDI), but this response is known to diminish upon repeated topical applications. Refinement of the experimental procedures could improve the rigor and reproducibility of the DBF migraine model.

Evidence of simian retrovirus type D by polymerase chain reaction.

Background: Over the past few years, there have been reports of finding Simian retrovirus type D (SRV) in macaque colonies where some animals were characterized as antibody positive but virus negative raising questions about how SRV was transmitted or whether there is a variant strain detected by antibody but not polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in current use.

Methods: We developed a three-round nested PCR assay using degenerate primers targeting the pol gene to detect for SRV serotypes 1-5 and applied this newly validated PCR assay to test macaque DNA samples collected in China from 2010 to 2015.

Results: Using the nested PCR assay validated in this study, we found 0.