Socioecological drivers of injuries in female and male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Competition over access to resources, such as food and mates, is believed to be one of the major costs associated with group living. Two socioecological factors suggested to predict the intensity of competition are group size and the relative abundance of sexually active individuals. However, empirical evidence linking these factors to injuries and survival costs is scarce. Here, we leveraged 10 years of data from free-ranging rhesus macaques where injuries inflicted by conspecifics are associated with a high mortality risk. We tested if group size and adult sex ratio predicted the occurrence of injuries and used data on physical aggression to contextualise these results. We found that males were less likely to be injured when living in larger groups, potentially due to advantages in intergroup encounters. Females, instead, had higher injury risk when living in larger groups but this was not explained by within-group aggression among females. Further, male-biased sex ratios predicted a weak increase in injury risk in females and were positively related to male-female aggression, indicating that male coercion during mating competition may be a cause of injuries in females. Overall, our results provide insights into sex differences in the fitness-related costs of competition and empirical evidence for long-standing predictions on the evolution of group living.

Social ageing can protect against infectious disease in a group-living primate.

The benefits of social living are well established, but sociality also comes with costs, including infectious disease risk. This cost-benefit ratio of sociality is expected to change across individuals' lifespans, which may drive changes in social behaviour with age. To explore this idea, we combine data from a group-living primate for which social ageing has been described with epidemiological models to show that having lower social connectedness when older can protect against the costs of a hypothetical, directly transmitted endemic pathogen. Assuming no age differences in epidemiological characteristics (susceptibility to, severity, and duration of infection), older individuals suffered lower infection costs, which was explained largely because they were less connected in their social networks than younger individuals. This benefit of 'social ageing' depended on epidemiological characteristics and was greatest when infection severity increased with age. When infection duration increased with age, social ageing was beneficial only when pathogen transmissibility was low. Older individuals benefited most from having a lower frequency of interactions (strength) and network embeddedness (closeness) and benefited less from having fewer social partners (degree). Our study provides a first examination of the epidemiology of social ageing, demonstrating the potential for pathogens to influence evolutionary dynamics of social ageing in natural populations.

Quantifying the relationship between bone and soft tissue measures within the rhesus macaques of Cayo Santiago.

OBJECTIVES: Interpretations of the primate and human fossil record often rely on the estimation of somatic dimensions from bony measures. Both somatic and skeletal variation have been used to assess how primates respond to environmental change. However, it is unclear how well skeletal variation matches and predicts soft tissue. Here, we empirically test the relationship between tissues by comparing somatic and skeletal measures using paired measures of pre- and post-mortem rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Somatic measurements were matched with skeletal dimensions from 105 rhesus macaque individuals to investigate paired signals of variation (i.e., coefficients of variation, sexual dimorphism) and bivariate codependence (reduced major axis regression) in measures of: (1) limb length; (2) joint breadth; and (3) limb circumference. Predictive models for the estimation of soft tissue dimensions from skeletons were built from Ordinary Least Squares regressions. RESULTS: Somatic and skeletal measurements showed statistically equivalent coefficients of variation and sexual dimorphism as well as high epiphyses-present ordinary least square (OLS) correlations in limb lengths (R2 >0.78, 0.82), joint breadths (R2 >0.74, 0.83) and, to a lesser extent, limb circumference (R2 >0.53, 0.68). CONCLUSION: Skeletal measurements are good substitutions for somatic values based on population signals of variation. OLS regressions indicate that skeletal correlates are highly predictive of somatic dimensions. The protocols and regression equations established here provide a basis for reliable reconstruction of somatic dimension from catarrhine fossils and validate our ability to compare or combine results of studies based on population data of either hard or soft tissue proxies.

Digging deeper into pain: an ethological behavior assay correlating well-being in mice with human pain experience.

ABSTRACT: The pressing need for safer, more efficacious analgesics is felt worldwide. Preclinical tests in animal models of painful conditions represent one of the earliest checkpoints novel therapeutics must negotiate before consideration for human use. Traditionally, the pain status of laboratory animals has been inferred from evoked nociceptive assays that measure their responses to noxious stimuli. The disconnect between how pain is tested in laboratory animals and how it is experienced by humans may in part explain the shortcomings of current pain medications and highlights a need for refinement. Here, we survey human patients with chronic pain who assert that everyday aspects of life, such as cleaning and leaving the house, are affected by their ongoing level of pain. Accordingly, we test the impact of painful conditions on an ethological behavior of mice, digging. Stable digging behavior was observed over time in naive mice of both sexes. By contrast, deficits in digging were seen after acute knee inflammation. The analgesia conferred by meloxicam and gabapentin was compared in the monosodium iodoacetate knee osteoarthritis model, with meloxicam more effectively ameliorating digging deficits, in line with human patients finding meloxicam more effective. Finally, in a visceral pain model, the decrease in digging behavior correlated with the extent of disease. Ultimately, we make a case for adopting ethological assays, such as digging, in studies of pain in laboratory animals, which we believe to be more representative of the human experience of pain and thus valuable in assessing clinical potential of novel analgesics in animals.

Mechanical and morphometric approaches to body mass estimation in rhesus macaques: A test of skeletal variables.

OBJECTIVES: Estimation of body mass from skeletal metrics can reveal important insights into the paleobiology of archeological or fossil remains. The standard approach constructs predictive equations from postcrania, but studies have questioned the reliability of traditional measures. Here, we examine several skeletal features to assess their accuracy in predicting body mass. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Antemortem mass measurements were compared with common skeletal dimensions from the same animals postmortem, using 115 rhesus macaques (male: n = 43; female: n = 72). Individuals were divided into training (n = 58) and test samples (n = 57) to build and assess Ordinary Least Squares or multivariate regressions by residual sum of squares (RSS) and AIC weights. A leave-one-out approach was implemented to formulate the best fit multivariate models, which were compared against a univariate and a previously published catarrhine body-mass estimation model. RESULTS: Femur circumference represented the best univariate model. The best model overall was composed of four variables (femur, tibia and fibula circumference and humerus length). By RSS and AICw, models built from rhesus macaque data (RSS = 26.91, AIC = -20.66) better predicted body mass than did the catarrhine model (RSS = 65.47, AIC = 20.24). CONCLUSION: Body mass in rhesus macaques is best predicted by a 4-variable equation composed of humerus length and hind limb midshaft circumferences. Comparison of models built from the macaque versus the catarrhine data highlight the importance of taxonomic specificity in predicting body mass. This paper provides a valuable dataset of combined somatic and skeletal data in a primate, which can be used to build body mass equations for fragmentary fossil evidence.

A note on estimating absolute cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in sensory neurons using a single wavelength Ca2+ indicator.

Ca2+ imaging is frequently used in the investigation of sensory neuronal function and nociception. In vitro imaging of acutely dissociated sensory neurons using membrane-permeant fluorescent Ca2+ indicators remains the most common approach to study Ca2+ signalling in sensory neurons. Fluo4 is a popular choice of single-wavelength indicator due to its brightness, high affinity for Ca2+ and ease of use. However, unlike ratiometric indicators, the emission intensity from single-wavelength indicators can be affected by indicator concentration, optical path length, excitation intensity and detector efficiency. As such, without careful calibration, it can be difficult to draw inferences from differences in the magnitude of Ca2+ transients recorded using Fluo4. Here, we show that a method scarcely used in sensory neurophysiology - first proposed by Maravall and colleagues (2000) - can provide reliable estimates of absolute cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt) in acutely dissociated sensory neurons using Fluo4. This method is straightforward to implement; is applicable to any high-affinity single-wavelength Ca2+ indicator with a large dynamic range; and provides estimates of [Ca2+]cyt in line with other methods, including ratiometric imaging. Use of this method will improve the granularity of sensory neuron Ca2+ imaging data obtained with Fluo4.

Transcriptomic profiling reveals a pronociceptive role for angiotensin II in inflammatory bowel disease.

ABSTRACT: Visceral pain is a leading cause of morbidity in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), contributing significantly to reduced quality of life. Currently available analgesics often lack efficacy or have intolerable side effects, driving the need for a more complete understanding of the mechanisms causing pain. Whole transcriptome gene expression analysis was performed by bulk RNA sequencing of colonic biopsies from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) reporting abdominal pain and compared with noninflamed control biopsies. Potential pronociceptive mediators were identified based on gene upregulation in IBD biopsy tissue and cognate receptor expression in murine colonic sensory neurons. Pronociceptive activity of identified mediators was assessed in assays of sensory neuron and colonic afferent activity. RNA sequencing analysis highlighted a 7.6-fold increase in the expression of angiotensinogen transcripts, Agt , which encode the precursor to angiotensin II (Ang II), in samples from UC patients ( P = 3.2 × 10 -8 ). Consistent with the marked expression of the angiotensin AT 1 receptor in colonic sensory neurons, Ang II elicited an increase in intracellular Ca 2+ in capsaicin-sensitive, voltage-gated sodium channel subtype Na V 1.8-positive sensory neurons. Ang II also evoked action potential discharge in high-threshold colonic nociceptors. These effects were inhibited by the AT 1 receptor antagonist valsartan. Findings from our study identify AT 1 receptor-mediated colonic nociceptor activation as a novel pathway of visceral nociception in patients with UC. This work highlights the potential utility of angiotensin receptor blockers, such as valsartan, as treatments for pain in IBD.

Immune cell composition varies by age, sex and exposure to social adversity in free-ranging Rhesus Macaques.

Increasing age is associated with dysregulated immune function and increased inflammation-patterns that are also observed in individuals exposed to chronic social adversity. Yet we still know little about how social adversity impacts the immune system and how it might promote age-related diseases. Here, we investigated how immune cell diversity varied with age, sex and social adversity (operationalized as low social status) in free-ranging rhesus macaques. We found age-related signatures of immunosenescence, including lower proportions of CD20 + B cells, CD20 + /CD3 + ratio, and CD4 + /CD8 + T cell ratio - all signs of diminished antibody production. Age was associated with higher proportions of CD3 + /CD8 + Cytotoxic T cells, CD16 + /CD3- Natural Killer cells, CD3 + /CD4 + /CD25 + and CD3 + /CD8 + /CD25 + T cells, and CD14 + /CD16 + /HLA-DR + intermediate monocytes, and lower levels of CD14 + /CD16-/HLA-DR + classical monocytes, indicating greater amounts of inflammation and immune dysregulation. We also found a sex-dependent effect of exposure to social adversity (i.e., low social status). High-status males, relative to females, had higher CD20 + /CD3 + ratios and CD16 + /CD3 Natural Killer cell proportions, and lower proportions of CD8 + Cytotoxic T cells. Further, low-status females had higher proportions of cytotoxic T cells than high-status females, while the opposite was observed in males. High-status males had higher CD20 + /CD3 + ratios than low-status males. Together, our study identifies the strong age and sex-dependent effects of social adversity on immune cell proportions in a human-relevant primate model. Thus, these results provide novel insights into the combined effects of demography and social adversity on immunity and their potential contribution to age-related diseases in humans and other animals.

Sensory collectives in natural systems.

Groups of animals inhabit vastly different sensory worlds, or umwelten, which shape fundamental aspects of their behaviour. Yet the sensory ecology of species is rarely incorporated into the emerging field of collective behaviour, which studies the movements, population-level behaviours, and emergent properties of animal groups. Here, we review the contributions of sensory ecology and collective behaviour to understanding how animals move and interact within the context of their social and physical environments. Our goal is to advance and bridge these two areas of inquiry and highlight the potential for their creative integration. To achieve this goal, we organise our review around the following themes: (1) identifying the promise of integrating collective behaviour and sensory ecology; (2) defining and exploring the concept of a 'sensory collective'; (3) considering the potential for sensory collectives to shape the evolution of sensory systems; (4) exploring examples from diverse taxa to illustrate neural circuits involved in sensing and collective behaviour; and (5) suggesting the need for creative conceptual and methodological advances to quantify 'sensescapes'. In the final section, (6) applications to biological conservation, we argue that these topics are timely, given the ongoing anthropogenic changes to sensory stimuli (e.g. via light, sound, and chemical pollution) which are anticipated to impact animal collectives and group-level behaviour and, in turn, ecosystem composition and function. Our synthesis seeks to provide a forward-looking perspective on how sensory ecologists and collective behaviourists can both learn from and inspire one another to advance our understanding of animal behaviour, ecology, adaptation, and evolution.

Urinary C-peptide and total triiodothyronine as energetic biomarkers for studies of lemurs.

Measuring energy balance and energy metabolism can provide crucial information for understanding the ecological and behavioral drivers of an animal's energetic and physiological condition. Both urinary C-peptide (uCP) of insulin and urinary total triiodothyronine (uTT3) have been validated as noninvasive biomarkers of energy balance and metabolic activity in haplorrhine primates. This study attempts to validate uCP and uTT3 measures in strepsirrhines, a phylogenetically distinct primate clade, using the ruffed lemur (genus Varecia) as a model. We experimentally manipulated the diet of captive black-and-white (Varecia variegata) and red (Varecia rubra) ruffed lemurs at Duke Lemur Center across a 4-week period. We collected urine samples from subjects (n = 5) each day during 1 week of control diet, 2 weeks of calorie-restricted diet and 1 week of refeeding, designed to temporarily reduce energy balance and metabolism. We also tested the outcome of filter paper as a storage method by comparing to controls (frozen at -20°C) to assess its suitability for studies of wild populations. We successfully measured uCP and uTT3 levels in frozen urine samples using commercial enzyme immunoassay kits and found that both biomarkers were excreted at lower concentrations (C-peptide: 1.35 ng/mL, 54% reduction; TT3: 1.5 ng/mL, 37.5% reduction) during calorie-restricted periods compared to normal diet periods. Filter paper recovery for uCP was 19%, though values were significantly positively correlated with frozen control samples. uTT3 could not be recovered at measurable concentrations using filter paper. These methods enable noninvasive measurement of energetic conditions in wild strepsirrhines and subsequent assessment of relationships between energy balance and numerous socioecological drivers in primate populations.

The biology of aging in a social world: Insights from free-ranging rhesus macaques.

Social adversity can increase the age-associated risk of disease and death, yet the biological mechanisms that link social adversities to aging remain poorly understood. Long-term naturalistic studies of nonhuman animals are crucial for integrating observations of social behavior throughout an individual's life with detailed anatomical, physiological, and molecular measurements. Here, we synthesize the body of research from one such naturalistic study system, Cayo Santiago, which is home to the world's longest continuously monitored free-ranging population of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). We review recent studies of age-related variation in morphology, gene regulation, microbiome composition, and immune function. We also discuss ecological and social modifiers of age-markers in this population. In particular, we summarize how a major natural disaster, Hurricane Maria, affected rhesus macaque physiology and social structure and highlight the context-dependent and domain-specific nature of aging modifiers. Finally, we conclude by providing directions for future study, on Cayo Santiago and elsewhere, that will further our understanding of aging across different domains and how social adversity modifies aging processes.

KV7 but not dual small and intermediate KCa channel openers inhibit the activation of colonic afferents by noxious stimuli.

In numerous subtypes of central and peripheral neurons, small and intermediate conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK and IK, respectively) channels are important regulators of neuronal excitability. Transcripts encoding SK channel subunits, as well as the closely related IK subunit, are coexpressed in the soma of colonic afferent neurons with receptors for the algogenic mediators ATP and bradykinin, P2X3 and B2, highlighting the potential utility of these channels as drug targets for the treatment of abdominal pain in gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome. Despite this, pretreatment with the dual SK/IK channel opener SKA-31 had no effect on the colonic afferent response to ATP, bradykinin, or noxious ramp distention of the colon. Inhibition of SK or IK channels with apamin or TRAM-34, respectively, yielded no change in spontaneous baseline afferent activity, indicating these channels are not tonically active. In contrast to its lack of effect in electrophysiological experiments, comparable concentrations of SKA-31 abolished ongoing peristaltic activity in the colon ex vivo. Treatment with the KV7 channel opener retigabine blunted the colonic afferent response to all applied stimuli. Our data therefore highlight the potential utility of KV7, but not SK/IK, channel openers as analgesic agents for the treatment of abdominal pain.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Despite marked coexpression of small (Kcnn1, Kcnn2) and intermediate (Kcnn4) conductance calcium-activated potassium channel transcripts with P2X3 (P2rx3) or bradykinin B2 (Bdkrb2) receptors in colonic sensory neurons, pharmacological activation of these channels had no effect on the colonic afferent response to ATP, bradykinin or luminal distension of the colon. This is in contrast to the robust inhibitory effect of the KV7 channel opener, retigabine.

Early life adversity has sex-dependent effects on survival across the lifespan in rhesus macaques.

Exposure to adversity during early life is linked to lasting detrimental effects on evolutionary fitness across many taxa. However, due to the challenges of collecting longitudinal data, especially in species where one sex disperses, direct evidence from long-lived species remains relatively scarce. Here we test the effects of early life adversity on male and female longevity in a free-ranging population of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. We leveraged six decades of data to quantify the relative importance of ten forms of early life adversity for 6,599 macaques (3,230 male, 3,369 female), with a smaller sample size (N=299) for one form of adversity (maternal social isolation) which required high-resolution behavioral data. We found that individuals who experienced more early life adversity died earlier than those who experienced less adversity. Mortality risk was highest during early life, defined as birth to four years old, suggesting acute survival effects of adversity, but heightened mortality risk was also present in macaques who survived to adulthood. Females and males were affected differently by some forms of adversity, and these differences might be driven by varying energetic demands, female philopatry, and male dispersal. By leveraging data on thousands of macaques collected over decades, our results show that the fitness consequences of early life adversity are not uniform across individuals but vary as a function of the type of adversity, timing, and social context, and thus contribute to our limited but growing understanding of the evolution of early life sensitivities in long-lived species.

Best practices for genotype imputation from low-coverage sequencing data in natural populations.

Monitoring genetic diversity in wild populations is a central goal of ecological and evolutionary genetics and is critical for conservation biology. However, genetic studies of nonmodel organisms generally lack access to species-specific genotyping methods (e.g. array-based genotyping) and must instead use sequencing-based approaches. Although costs are decreasing, high-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS), which produces the highest confidence genotypes, remains expensive. More economical reduced representation sequencing approaches fail to capture much of the genome, which can hinder downstream inference. Low-coverage WGS combined with imputation using a high-confidence reference panel is a cost-effective alternative, but the accuracy of genotyping using low-coverage WGS and imputation in nonmodel populations is still largely uncharacterized. Here, we empirically tested the accuracy of low-coverage sequencing (0.1-10×) and imputation in two natural populations, one with a large (n = 741) reference panel, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), and one with a smaller (n = 68) reference panel, gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada). Using samples sequenced to coverage as low as 0.5×, we could impute genotypes at >95% of the sites in the reference panel with high accuracy (median r2 ≥ 0.92). We show that low-coverage imputed genotypes can reliably calculate genetic relatedness and population structure. Based on these data, we also provide best practices and recommendations for researchers who wish to deploy this approach in other populations, with all code available on GitHub (https://github.com/mwatowich/LoCSI-for-non-model-species). Our results endorse accurate and effective genotype imputation from low-coverage sequencing, enabling the cost-effective generation of population-scale genetic datasets necessary for tackling many pressing challenges of wildlife conservation.

Assessing color cues of development, breeding status and reproductive condition in captive golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia).

Color signals play an important role in intraspecific communication and are well studied in catarrhine primates, which exhibit uniform trichromatic vision that is well suited to detecting such signals. Platyrrhine primates exhibit polymorphic color vision with different individuals possessing different color vision types in most species. Intriguingly, some platyrrhine species exhibit bare faces, which are convergent with those of catarrhines. However, putative functions of bare-faced color signals in platyrrhines remain largely unexplored. We measured facial skin color of five captive golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) using color-calibrated digital photography and modeled these colors to the visual systems of the species. Our results show that facial coloration is different between infant and older adults and varies across reproductive condition, but not between breeding and nonbreeding adults. While preliminary, our study suggests that facial coloration may be involved in sociosexual signaling in golden lion tamarins, and provides intriguing evidence that we hope might stimulate more studies of bare-faced signaling in platyrrhines.

Genetic variants in melanogenesis proteins TYRP1 and TYR are associated with the golden rhesus macaque phenotype.

Nonhuman primates (NHPs) are vital translational research models due to their high genetic, physiological, and anatomical homology with humans. The "golden" rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) phenotype is a naturally occurring, inherited trait with a visually distinct pigmentation pattern resulting in light blonde colored fur. Retinal imaging also reveals consistent hypopigmentation and occasional foveal hypoplasia. Here, we describe the use of genome-wide association in 2 distinct NHP populations to identify candidate variants in genes linked to the golden phenotype. Two missense variants were identified in the Tyrosinase-related protein 1 gene (Asp343Gly and Leu415Pro) that segregate with the phenotype. An additional and distinct association was also found with a Tyrosinase variant (His256Gln), indicating the light-colored fur phenotype can result from multiple genetic mechanisms. The implicated genes are related through their contribution to the melanogenesis pathway. Variants in these 2 genes are known to cause pigmentation phenotypes in other species and to be associated with oculocutaneous albinism in humans. The novel associations presented in this study will permit further investigations into the role these proteins and variants play in the melanogenesis pathway and model the effects of genetic hypopigmentation and altered melanogenesis in a naturally occurring nonhuman primate model.

Group size and mating system predict sex differences in vocal fundamental frequency in anthropoid primates.

Vocalizations differ substantially between the sexes in many primates, and low-frequency male vocalizations may be favored by sexual selection because they intimidate rivals and/or attract mates. Sexual dimorphism in fundamental frequency may be more pronounced in species with more intense male mating competition and in those with large group size, where social knowledge is limited and efficient judgment of potential mates and competitors is crucial. These non-mutually exclusive explanations have not been tested simultaneously across primate species. In a sample of vocalizations (n = 1914 recordings) across 37 anthropoid species, we investigated whether fundamental frequency dimorphism evolved in association with increased intensity of mating competition (H1), large group size (H2), multilevel social organization (H3), a trade-off against the intensity of sperm competition (H4), and/or poor acoustic habitats (H5), controlling for phylogeny and body size dimorphism. We show that fundamental frequency dimorphism increased in evolutionary transitions towards larger group size and polygyny. Findings suggest that low-frequency male vocalizations in primates may have been driven by selection to win mating opportunities by avoiding costly fights and may be more important in larger groups, where limited social knowledge affords advantages to rapid assessment of status and threat potential via conspicuous secondary sexual characteristics.

Natural Animal Populations as Model Systems for Understanding Early Life Adversity Effects on Aging.

Adverse experiences in early life are associated with aging-related disease risk and mortality across many species. In humans, confounding factors, as well as the difficulty of directly measuring experiences and outcomes from birth till death, make it challenging to identify how early life adversity impacts aging and health. These challenges can be mitigated, in part, through the study of non-human animals, which are exposed to parallel forms of adversity and can age similarly to humans. Furthermore, studying the links between early life adversity and aging in natural populations of non-human animals provides an excellent opportunity to better understand the social and ecological pressures that shaped the evolution of early life sensitivities. Here, we highlight ongoing and future research directions that we believe will most effectively contribute to our understanding of the evolution of early life sensitivities and their repercussions.

Age-Related Differences in Ocular Features of a Naturalistic Free-Ranging Population of Rhesus Macaques.

Purpose: Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are the premier nonhuman primate model for studying human health and disease. We investigated if age was associated with clinically relevant ocular features in a large cohort of free-ranging rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. Methods: We evaluated 120 rhesus macaques (73 males, 47 females) from 0 to 29 years old (mean ± SD: 12.6 ± 6.4) from September to December 2021. The ophthalmic evaluation included intraocular pressure (IOP) assessment, corneal pachymetry, biomicroscopy, A-scan biometry, automated refraction, and fundus photography after pupil dilation. The associations of age with the outcomes were investigated through multilevel mixed-effects models adjusted for sex and weight. Results: On average, IOP, pachymetry, axial length, and automated refraction spherical equivalent were 18.37 ± 4.68 mmHg, 474.43 ± 32.21 µm, 19.49 ± 1.24 mm, and 0.30 ± 1.70 diopters (D), respectively. Age was significantly associated with pachymetry (ß coefficient = -1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], -2.27 to -0.14; P = 0.026), axial length (ß coefficient = 0.03; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.05; P = 0.002), and spherical equivalent (ß coefficient = -0.12; 95% CI, -0.22 to -0.02; P = 0.015). No association was detected between age and IOP. The prevalence of cataracts in either eye was 10.83% (95% CI, 6.34-17.89) and was significantly associated with age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.06-1.36; P = 0.004). Retinal drusen in either eye was observed in 15.00% (95% CI, 9.60-22.68) of animals, which was also significantly associated with age (OR = 1.14; 95% CI, 1.02-1.27; P = 0.020). Conclusions: Rhesus macaques exhibit age-related ocular associations similar to those observed in human aging, including decreased corneal thickness, increased axial length, myopic shift, and higher prevalence of cataract and retinal drusen.

Urinary cytokine measurements do not reflect surgery-induced inflammation in rhesus macaques.

Measurement of the health and disease status of free-ranging primates is often limited by a lack of available biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation that can be applied noninvasively via the measurement of urine or fecal samples. Here, we evaluate the potential usefulness of noninvasive urinary measurements of a number of cytokines, chemokines, and other markers of inflammation and infection. We took advantage of surgery-associated inflammation in seven captive rhesus macaques, collecting urine samples before and after the medical interventions. We measured these urine samples for 33 different markers of inflammation and immune activation that are known to be responsive to inflammation and infection in rhesus macaque blood samples, via the Luminex platform. We also measured all samples for concentrations of the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), which we had validated in a prior study as an effective biomarker of inflammation. Despite urine samples being collected in captivity under ideal conditions (clean, no contamination with feces or soil, frozen quickly), 13/33 biomarkers measured via Luminex were found at concentrations below detection limits in >50% of samples. Of the remaining 20 markers, only 2 showed significant increases in response to surgery-IL18 and MPO (myeloperoxidase). However, suPAR measurements of the same samples show a consistent marked increase in response to surgery that is absent from the patterns of IL18 and MPO measurement. Given that our samples were collected under conditions that are greatly preferable to those usually encountered in the field, urinary cytokine measurements via the Luminex platform seem overall unpromising for primate field studies.