The Baboon in Xenotransplant Research

If cross-species transplantation is ever to become a reasonable therapeutic modality for human beings, it will be because the potential for success has been demonstrated in a nonhuman primate model. The imperative has always been to select a primate research subject from a species that is plentiful, is not endangered, readily procreates in a managed environment, and mimics the human response (immunologic homology) to both organ transplantation and potential transfer of infectious disease. Several Papio subspecies of baboons, including Papio hamadryas anubis (olive baboon), meet these important criteria. These animals remain ubiquitous throughout sub-Saharan Africa and have adapted well to the managed environments of major primate centers worldwide. A list of United States-based primate centers housing breeding colonies of baboons can be found in Table 19.1. The Surgical Research Laboratory at Loma Linda University, for instance, has maintained a salutary relationship with the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas, for the procurement of juvenile baboon research subjects.