Chapter 15 - Future Directions: Assisted Reproductive Technologies as Tools for Creating Nonhuman Primate Models of Developmental Disability

Abstract

Biological model systems that support descriptive pathology based on gene–environment interactions and span the spectrum from pathogenesis to clinical phenotype are required for basic scientific and clinically meaningful study of developmental disabilities. Developmental disorders encompass a broad range of genetic abnormalities that are subject to epigenetic and environmental modification. Simple nonmammalian organism and rodent model systems have proven extremely useful for the study of gene function related to developmental disability. However, for some developmental disorders, nonprimate orthologs of the affected human gene(s) may not exist. Furthermore, sensory modalities and functionally integrated physiological systems that respond to and are affected by epigenetic and environmental influences are known to be quite different in primate than in nonprimate species. Given these differences, nonprimate models of developmental disabilities may exhibit vastly different phenotypes compared with the human condition. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) encompass an enormous array of skills from both basic sciences and clinical medicine, span the spectrum of most species used for scientific experimentation, and cover molecular to integrated systems approaches to reproductive biology. Advances in embryology and stem cell-based. ARTs are directly responsible for the generation of genetically modified and genetically identical mammals and have had a large impact on progress in rodent models of developmental disability. Thus development and application of ARTs in nonhuman primates represents a promising avenue for expanded use of nonhuman primate models of developmental disabilities.