Social Separation, Housing Relocation, and Survival in Simian AIDS

Abstract

The results indicate that psychosocial experiences that likely produce a stressful state are associated with shorter survival in SIV-infected monkeys.

Increases in a marker of immune system reconstitution are predated by decreases in 24-h urinary cortisol output and depressed mood during a 10-week stress management intervention in symptomatic HIV-infected men

“…Alternatively, changes observed in this intervention may have been due to the supportive environment created by the group setting [70]. Prior work revealed that social separation, known to be related to glucocorticoid elevations, is associated with shorter survival time among rhesus monkeys inoculated with Simian Immunodeficiency Virus [71]. Cortisol changes during CBSM may have been due to the fact that the group worked to offset the sense of isolation and personal losses (e.g., due to multiple bereavements) that many of the men were dealing with.…”

Differential detection of B virus and rhesus cytomegalovirus in rhesus macaques FN1

“…A total of 13 seropositive animals (4 females, 9 males) with a range of antibody titres were brought indoors and same-sex pair-housed with an animal unknown to them. Changes in housing conditions and pairing with an unknown animal are known stressors for macaques (Capitanio & Lerche, 1998). One animal, 29937, was included in two phases of the group 1 study (described below).…”

Stereotypies and Other Abnormal Repetitive Behaviors: Potential Impact on Validity, Reliability, and Replicability of Scientific Outcomes

“…Similarly, when animals are exposed to chronic aversive stimuli (e.g., cues leading to the perceived exposure to predators in an environment devoid of shelter), or an inability to perform behaviors normally essential to survival or reproduction in the wild (e.g., dispersal in mice; Latham and Mason 2004), they are likely to be stressed (Olsson and Dahlborn 2002). Indeed, the inability to predict or control stimuli that are themselves non-life-threatening can lead to chronic states of stress that can markedly decrease immunocompetence (e.g., social disruption in rhesus; Capitanio and Lerche 1998) or even lead to spontaneous mortality (e.g., foot shock in rats; Weiss 1970). One of the fundamental aims of enrichment, therefore, is to allow the animal to perform species-typical behaviors that return control over the environment to the animal and promote homeostasis.…”