A change in housing condition leads to relatively long-term changes in cell-mediated immune responses in adult rhesus macaques (1997)

Schapiro, S. J., Nehete, P. N., Perlman, J. E. et al.

Abstract

Changes in the social environment, such as removal and/or reintroduction of groupmates, affect theimmunological responses of captive macaques of all ages. This study compares cell-mediated immuneresponses of adult Macaca mulatta (N= 17) whose housing condition was changed from social to single orfrom group to pair housing. Blood samples were collected prior to the change and after monkeys had lived for 2 days, 1 month, 4 months, and 8 months in the new housing situation. Samples were assayed forproliferation response, lymphocyte subset distribution, and production of cytokines. Mixed-factorsANOVAs revealed that proliferation responses to PWM and Campylobacter increased, proliferation re-sponses to PHA, ConA, and SaZmoneZZa decreased, and absolute numbers of CD4+ lymphocytes decreasedover the eight months. Production of IL- 10 and IFN-y increased significantly within the first month afterthe housing change. Type of housing change had no effect. A change in housing condition results inchanges in immune responses, even after subjects had spent up to eight months in the new housing andregardless of whether the change was to solitary or pair housing. The observed time-related differencessuggest that subjects may not acclimate to “experimental” conditions until sometime after 8 months in thenew situation and provide an initial pathway for explorations that might account for the immunologicaleffects of psychosocial factors.