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Abstract

The cotton-top tamarin is a nonhuman primate noted for susceptibility to juvenile onset colitis and subsequent colon cancer. About 80% develop colitis in captive environments outside the tropics. The aim was to determine the prevalence of colitis and colorectal cancer in tamarins living wild in their tropical habitat. Endoscopic biopsy was used to compare severity of colitis, inflammatory/immune cell densities, mucosal dysplasia, and occurrence of cancer in wild tamarins in a tropical habitat with tamarins living captive in a temperate climate. Six colon biopsies from each of 69 captives showed severe colitis in 64.5% of biopsies and moderate colitis in 19.5%. Severe colitis was not found in 88 wild tamarins; 13% had moderate colitis. Densities of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, plasma cells, and mononuclear cells in the lamina propria were related directly to the severity of four grades of colitis (normal, mild, moderate, and severe). Histologic or gross signs of carcinoma were detected in 12 captives and low- or high-grade dysplasia in 15. Neither cancer nor dysplasia was found in any of the wild tamarins. The observations suggest that colitis and cancer in the tamarin model are linked to environmental factors.

The Development of Small Primate Models for Aging Research

“…In addition, several small NHP species, such as the grey mouse lemur, appear to be particularly susceptible to stresses associated with captivity (Perret 1982) and the animals’ stress can affect their physiological systems (Sapolsky et al 1990; Wood et al 1998) such as immune (Rogers et al 1998) and reproductive function (Bethea et al 2008). These effects may be due to their short history in captivity and/or less well developed husbandry techniques, or these species may have lower thresholds for stress-related responses because they are more vulnerable to extrinsic threats in nature.…”

“…Most research in captive colonies to date has focused on cognition, reproduction, and social behavior as it relates to reproduction (Abbott et al 2003; Almond et al 2008; Snowdon et al 2010; Ziegler and Snowdon 2000; Ziegler et al 2000). Several degenerative diseases with human analogues have also been reported (Lemere et al 2008; Wood et al 1998). There are two potential drawbacks of tamarins compared to marmosets: first is their substantially longer life, but, given the extensive characterization of their behavior, they may be useful for cognitive aspects of primate aging; second, the fact that they are critically endangered in the wild (IUCN 2010) presents logistical issues for the development of new research colonies.…”

The Effects of Physical and Psychological Stress on the Gastrointestinal Tract: Lessons from Animal Models

“…In the early 80´s the spontaneous development of colonic inflammation in this small primate from Central America was initially described [47,48]; later on it was noted that the frequency of colitis was, to a large extent, significantly higher in animals under captivity, compared to animals living in their wild environment [49][50][51]. This fact underlined the essential role of an environmental factor -reasonably psychological stress due to captivity -in the pathogenesis of the disease in these animals, serving as an excellent animal model of stress-related disorder.…”

Helicobacter saguini, a Novel Helicobacter Isolated from Cotton-Top Tamarins with Ulcerative Colitis, Has Proinflammatory Properties and Induces Typhlocolitis and Dysplasia in Gnotobiotic IL-10 −/− Mice

“…Approximately 50% of colony-maintained tamarins develop idiopathic chronic colitis, with 20 to 40% of cases evolving into colonic adenocarcinomas (2). The clinical and histopathological manifestations of colitis in CTTs resemble human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly ulcerative colitis (UC), making the CTT an attractive animal model of naturally occurring IBD.…”