The objectives are to develop and implement modern reproductive technology for the production of chimpanzees for use as animal models for the study of human disease.
The aims are to develop, for application in breeding and treatment of infertility of chimpanzees, procedures for: sperm cryopreservation and artificial insemination; superovulation; embryo collection and intra- and inter-species embryo transfer. Semen will be collected by electroejaculation of anesthetized males and frozen in an extender which has yielded post-thaw sperm survival rates of over 50% in pilot studies. The fertility of the semen will be assessed using intrauterine artificial insemination. Embryos will be collected nonsurgically utilizing a modified human endometrium sampler and will be transferred nonsurgically to the uteri of other chimpanzees or of baboons. If baboons cannot support chimpanzee embryos by direct transfer, two methods of chimera formation, which may produce chimpanzee fetuses in baboon placentae, will be investigated. If perfected, these technologies should increase the production of the available chimpanzee population, facilitate selective breeding of specific disease models, enable relatively rapid increases in chimpanzees available for research, and assist with maintaining genetic diversity.
