Body mass growth in common marmosets: Toward a model of pediatric obesity

Abstract

While much is known about adult obesity in nonhuman primates, very little is known regarding development of childhood adiposity. As small monkeys that are easy to handle and have a relatively fast life history, common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) offer interesting opportunities to examine the question of fat versus lean mass growth in a nonhuman primate. This paper provides an overview of our understanding of early life growth in mass in marmoset monkeys, based primarily upon our past 20 years of research, culminating in our recent findings on early life obesity in this species. Common marmosets display variance in early life growth patterns that is related to both pre- and post-natal factors and the marmoset uterine environment is exquisitely designed to reflect resources available for the gestation of multiple offspring, making them an interesting model of developmental programming. We have demonstrated that obesity can be generated in very early life in captive marmosets, with excess adiposity evident by one month of age, making this species a potentially valuable model in which to study pediatric obesity and its sequelae. Birth weight is associated with adiposity in animals vulnerable to obesity. Early life exposure to higher fat diets enhances the chances of post-weaning obesity development. However, overall higher food consumption is also associated with obesity development at later ages. One unexpected finding in our studies has been the relatively high body fat percentage of neonatal (12–18%) marmosets suggesting that hypotheses regarding the uniqueness of high human neonatal adiposity merit further examination.

Valores eletrocardiográficos em saguis-de-tufo-preto (Callithrix penicillata)

“…A escolha de saguis (Callithrix sp.) apresenta certas vantagens devido ao pequeno porte dos animais, relativo baixo custo, fácil manejo e por produzirem até quatro crias anualmente (Benirschke & Richart 1960, Hampton Junior et al 1966, Epple 1970, Cyranoski 2009, Orsi et al 2011, Shimazawaa et al 2013, Tardif et al 2013.…”

Long‐term treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin has minor effect on clinical laboratory markers in middle‐aged marmosets

“…We noted marginally significant higher concentrations of hemoglobin in males and significantly lower cholesterol in females but all other markers were not different between the sexes. Others have reported a lack of difference in body weight at least in young animals and (Araujo et al, 2000) and marmosets generally described as monomorphic (Tardif, Power, Ross, & Rutherford, 2013). However, there have also been numerous reports of sex-specific phenotypes including behavior (Yamamoto, Domeniconi, & Box, 2004), endocrine beyond the basic sex hormones (de Sousa, Galvao, Sales, de Castro, & Galvao-Coelho, 2015), and even at the molecular level in terms of gene expression differences (Reinius et al, 2008).…”

Toward a nonhuman primate model of fetal programming: Phenotypic plasticity of the common marmoset fetoplacental complex

“…Triplets tend to be heavier in adulthood than twins. Further, whereas large neonates tend to be heavier adults regardless of their litter size, low birth weight triplets are much likelier to be large adults than are low birth weight twins [37, 38]. This is a highly evocative phenotype in the programming paradigm: low birth weight combined with “centile crossing” into higher weight in adolescence and adulthood [39–41].…”