Adult Female Chimpanzees Research Articles

Characterization of mycoplasmas isolated from the great apes.

Nine adult female chimpanzees, five adult female orangutans, and three young female gorillas were cultured for mycoplasmas. All animals were found to harbor at least one species of mycoplasma and some as many as four. On the basis of physiological and serological characteristics mycoplasmas closely related or identical with M. hominis, M. salivarium, and M. orale types 1 and 2 were identified. The M. hominis strains which were restricted to the chimpanzee comprised two serologic subgroups but were physiologically homogeneous. The M. salivarium strains were physiologically and morphologically heterogeneous, with both lipolytic and non-lipolytic strains being isolated from the salivas of all three primate species. All strains of M. salivarium were closely related serologically. In addition to the above species, three unidentifiable types were encountered. Type 1 strains were isolated from the vaginas of two chimpanzees. The type 2 strain, which shared up to three antigenic components with various human mycoplasmas, was isolated from the oropharynx of a chimpanzee. The type 3 strains constituted the only mycoplasma species isolated from the orangutan vagina.

Urinary gonadotropin excretion by infrahuman primates.

Pituitary gonadotropic activity was assayed biologically in rhesus and stump-tail monkeys, the hamadryas baboon and the chimpanzee. HCG-augmentation was found to increase the sensitivity of the mouse uterine weight method sufficiently to enable “general gonadotropin” measurements (i.e., measurements not specific for FSH or LH) to be secured readily in all categories of animals. Specific methods for the determination of FSH and LH yielded barely detectable values in pools comprising several days' urine of the rhesus and stump-tail monkeys and the baboon. In the adult female chimpanzee, the FSH and LH content of serial 24-hr specimens approximated human levels. The FSH values were maximal during the early follicular phase, fell below the extinction point of the assay during midcycle and became measurable again during the luteal phase. LH was excreted in a surge, the rise commencing on the day after sex skin swelling reached its zenith. (Endocrinology84: 508, 1969)