Previous studies on the contractile properties of human myofibrils reported increase, decrease, or no change with aging, perhaps due to the differences in physical activity, diet, and other factors. This study examined physical performance and contractile characteristics of myofibrils of vastus lateralis (VL) muscle in young adult and old African green vervet monkeys. Animals were offered the s...

During the early development of the visual cortex, there is a critical period when neuronal connections are highly sensitive to changes in visual input. Deprivation of visual stimuli during the critical period elicits robust anatomical and physiological rearrangements in the monkey visual cortex and serves as an excellent model for activity-dependent neuroplasticity. DNA microarray experiments ...

Like other animals, primates respond to predation using behavioural adaptations. Hence, they should optimise their escape strategy under the risk of predation, and flee at a distance, referred to as flight initiation distance (FID), when the fitness-related benefits of staying are balanced against the costs of escape. However, there is an absence of FID studies in primates. In this study, we us...

Blood from a domestic dog infected with Ehrlichia canis was injected into 3 adult vervet monkeys Cercopithecus pygerythrus. The monkeys did not develop any clinical or haematological signs of disease, nor did they seem to be able to harbour the parasite. Furthermore, neither morulae of E. canis nor haematological evidence of ehrlichiosis were seen after these monkeys had been splenectomized. Th...

An endogenous, immunoreactive digoxin-like factor (endoxin) was measured in the plasma of nonhuman primates with hypertension. Both normotensive and hypertensive rhesus monkeys had levels of endoxin that significantly correlated with their systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Vervet monkeys with experimentally produced chronic Goldblatt hypertension had significantly elevated endoxin, but not ...

Females dominate a subset of the males in minority mammalian species despite male-biased sexual dimorphism. How this may arise is suggested by computational model, DomWorld. The model represents dimorphism through males’ greater initial dominance and higher intensity aggression, meaning that fights initiated have impact than those females. shows female over increases with proportion group. This...

Parkinsonian behavioral deficits are improved following transplantation of fetal dopamine (DA) neurons to the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys, although the mechanism of the recovery has not been resolved. While there is good evidence for the survival of grafted tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cells following their placement in caudate nucleus, it is not known whether they provide sufficient...