Non-Human Primates: Model Animals for Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Non-human primates have been used to model psychiatric disease for several decades. The success of this paradigm has issued from comparable cognitive skills, brain morphology, and social complexity in adult monkeys and humans. Recently, interest in biological psychiatry has focused on similar brain, social, and emotional developmental processes in monkeys. In part, this is related to evidence that early postnatal experiences in human development may have profound implications for subsequent mental health. Non-human primate studies of postnatal phenomenon have generally fallen into three basic categories: experiential manipulation (largely manipulations of rearing), pharmacological manipulation (eg drug-induced psychosis), and anatomical localization (defined by strategic surgical damage). Although these efforts have been very informative each of them has certain limitations. In this review we highlight general findings from the non-human primate postnatal developmental literature and their implications for primate models in psychiatry. We argue that primates are uniquely capable of uncovering interactions between genes, environmental challenges, and development resulting in altered risk for psychopathology.

Nonhuman Primate Research Contributions to Understanding Genetic and Environmental Influences on Phenotypic Outcomes across Development

“…Similar to humans, nonhuman primates undergo relatively long maturational periods and experience congruent developmental changes in complex social behavior and cognitive abilities (Machado & Bachevalier, 2003). Experimental control and telescoped maturation, along with behavioral, neurobiological, genetic, and other similarities to humans, are the features that make nonhuman primates unique for studies that can address essential questions about how complex and interacting factors influence different aspects of development over extended periods (Nelson & Winslow, 2009). In turn, the results of these studies can guide more mechanistic and interventional studies that cannot be conducted in humans.…”

Signs of generalized anxiety and compulsive disorders in chimpanzees

“…The relationships between captive confinement and poor physical and psychological health effects have been the foundation for many attempts to develop nonhuman animal models of human psychopathology (Vellucci, 1990;Coplan et al, 1995;Lang et al, 2000;Barros and Tomaz, 2002;Nelson and Winslow, 2009). However, far less attention has been focused on nonhuman animals' susceptibility to psychological disorders, the factors that contribute to their development, and relevant clinical and ethical implications.…”

“…The amygdala, along with other regions of the brain, mediates anxiety, fear, rage, and associated protective behaviors, and it plays a role in activating panic, phobias, and anxiety (Gregory, 2004). In humans and other animals, shared risk factors for anxiety states include interruptions of early childhood development, loss of autonomy, captivity, and threats to one's physical safety, among others (Suomi et al, 1981;Engdahl et al, 1993;Coplan et al, 1995;Barros and Tomaz, 2002;Carll, 2007;Nelson and Winslow, 2009).…”

Why bother using non-human primate models of cognitive disorders in translational research?

“…With the spontaneous expression of pathological profiles among nhp populations of anxiety-and depressive-like phenotypes (Camus et al, 2014;Ferdowsian et al, 2011), monkeys are excellent models for investigating complex cognitive disorders in natural and pathophysiological states (Brune, Brune-Cohrs, McGrew, & Preuschoft, 2006;Capitanio & Emborg, 2008;Nelson & Winslow, 2009;Roelfsema & Treue, 2014;Schneider et al, 2013a,b;Suomi, Eisele, Grady, & Harlow, 1975).…”