Nonhuman primates, phylogenetically our closest living relatives, have always been a very important model for studying human disease entities. The discovery that certain old world cercopithecine primates had two endogenous, naturally occurring viruses genetically closely related to HIV that this class of monkeys would become a major asset in basic research programs, testing of vaccines and assessments of drug therapies in the fight against AIDS. The further discovery that when SIV is transinfected into seronegative rhesus macaques, they develop clinical pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS in humans, has provided a research tool of unparalleled opportunity. The recent discovery that pigtail macaques can be infected with HIV ensures that two macaque species (Macaca mulatta and nemestrina) will continue to be the most consistently and widely used animal model for AIDS and other immunological disease research. There is a well-established need to assure the domestic availability of SPF macaques in large numbers for biomedical research to aid in vaccine development, drug therapy and for basic sciences research, requiring that the government establish and maintain macaque breeding colonies free of the known simian retroviruses and Herpes B virus. There are two overall objectives for this project (1) to continue the development of a self-perpetuating breeding colony of SPF rhesus macaques capable of producing 175-200 progeny per year for extramural research, (2) to develop and establish a breeding colony of SPF pigtail macaques capable of producing 40 + SPF progeny per year for extramural research. The general aims common to both colonies include: to maintain both colonies seronegative and virus negative for Herpesvirus simiae, the retroviruses HIV, SIV (STLV-III), SRV-1, 2, 5, STLV-/HTLV-I; to maintain the behavioral/veterinary management policies so that production rates reach 65%-70%, and overall mortality is held below 8%; to maintain breeding units in year-round outdoor corrals that mimic the natural free-ranging habitat to provide maximum psychological stimulation and environmental enrichment; To continue veterinary management procedures ensuring constant serological monitoring, and protocols for isolation and containment to guarantee each breeding unit remains seronegative; to continue behavioral data collection in order to monitor social behavior by specially trained technicians; To maximize reproductive success of all individual social units by keeping them small in size, thereby reducing aggression; to continue a computerized records management system that provides accurate and complete clinical, behavioral, reproductive, genealogical and biographic data on all animals; to secure and maintain AAALAC accreditation; to continue to provide a centralized facility for compiling and analyzing demographic data from all NIH SPF colonies; to screen, identify, isolate and quarantine seronegative Indian-heritage rhesus monkeys to stabilize a rhesus breeding population at 350 females, with a total of 15 social breeding groups of 2-4 males and 23-24 females and their immature offspring; to screen, identify, isolate and quarantine seronegative Indonesian-heritage pigtail monkeys to stabilize a pigtail breeding population of 110 females in a total of 4 social breeding groups of 2-3 males and 28 females and their immature offspring.
