hand-rearing procedure for raising newborn marmosets

Enhancing Survival and Development of Marmosets Using a Hand-Rearing Approach

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small and arboreal New World monkey originating from South and Central America. The use of marmosets in biomedical research has grown rapidly over the past decades due to several key advantages of marmosets compared with other non-human primates (NHPs), including their smaller body size, easier handling and breeding in captivity, shorter gestation time, earlier sexual maturation, and lower zoonotic risks1,2,3,4,5,6. The common marmoset has a similar brain structure and brain function to humans and displays a rich repertoire of vocalizations and highly social behavior with rich emotions. It is a compelling NHP model for different types of neuroscience studies, such as studies on sensory processing7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14, vocal communication15,16,17,18,19, models of spinal cord injury20,21,22,23, Parkinson&#39;s disease24,25,26,27,28, and age-related diseases29. Compared with other NHPs, the common marmoset has a relatively high reproduction rate, which is potentially useful for transgenic modification30,31,32. This primate is also widely used in pharmacology, angiography, and pathogen and immune studies33,34,35,36,37,38,39. However, the supply of marmosets remains very limited, especially in China, and cannot meet the rapidly growing needs of scientific research.
In marmoset colonies, the adult animals are fed once or twice per day, and a few institutions alter the diet for juvenile marmosets40. Generally, infant marmosets usually grasp firmly onto the body of the father or elder siblings for daily care and are handed to the mother several times per day for milk. Some female marmosets give birth to triplets, and in this case, one or two infants cannot survive due to a lack of milk; moreover, some parents do not take care of their infants because they lack nursing experience or for other unknown reasons. This is a big loss for many laboratories. A few studies have reported methods of nutrition management for adult marmosets in captive settings40,41,42 utilizing foods and formulas with different macronutrient compositions, vitamins, and minerals, as well as different feeding protocols for enrichment (mashed, gelled, purified, or canned)2,41. One previous study reported a collaborative rearing method for marmoset triplets43, in which caregivers take one infant per day, hand-feed it throughout the day, and exchange it for another of the triplets on the next day. Although this method allows the infants to have parental care, it requires an experienced caregiver to grab the infant from the body of the parents every day and is labor-intensive. So far, no study has reported a detailed, step-by-step hand-rearing method for newborn marmosets.
The goal of the current study is to provide a hand-rearing method for those interested in marmoset development but with limited resources. In contrast to the previous collaborative rearing method43, the current method is an alternative that causes less disturbance to the infant&#39;s family and is easy to learn. Based on the basic rules of breastfeeding and 5 years of practice, this paper describes a hand-rearing method for raising infant marmosets that includes the preparation of the food, a timetable for feeding, the configuration of the temperature and humidity of the animal incubator, as well as the adaptation of the infant animals to the colony environment.

Author Spotlight: Marmoset Research - Scope and Challenges 

Hand-Rearing Method for Infant Marmosets

The marmoset is a highly vocal and highly social New World monkey with high reproductive rate. We are interested in the sound processing in the brain of marmosets, the vocal development and vocal communications of infant marmosets, as well as the establishment of marmoset models of human mental diseases. The current big challenge is the shortage of marmoset supply, which cannot meet the needs of scientific research and thus, impede the progress of marmoset studies.Another challenge is the lack of experiments in maintaining a marmoset colony. This hand-rearing method significantly increases the survival rate of marmoset infants, and provides the opportunity to study the development of marmoset infants with a similar genetic backgrounds, but raised in different postnatal environments.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Hand-Rearing Procedure for Raising Newborn Marmosets at JoVE.com

Hand-Rearing Procedure for Raising Newborn Marmosets  

To begin, clean and sterilize the room by spraying hypochlorous acid or 75%ethyl alcohol on the floor and table. After leaving for 30 seconds, wipe the table and mop the floor. Set the temperature of the incubator to 35 degrees Celsius and the humidity to 40%Tile a disposable diaper pad to cover the chassis of the incubator.To minimize the stress of the infants, place a couple of blankets and plush toys in the incubator before introducing the infant marmosets. Wear sterilized personal protective equipment and warm a couple of blankets to 35 degrees Celsius. Gently hold the infant marmoset with warm blankets and obtain the weight of the animal as the birth weight.Transfer the animal into the incubator with warm blankets and record basic information such as the name, birth date, birth weight, parents, and other information of interest. Dissolve five grams of baby formula in 30 milliliters of boiled water in a 50 milliliter sterile centrifuge tube. And take one milliliter of food with a one milliliter syringe.Lid the syringe with a custom made feeding nipple and use a heating pad to maintain the food temperature at 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. After warming the hands, gently hold the infant with a warm blanket in one hand, and put the feeding nipple into its mouth while softly holding its head with the thumb and index finger of the holding hand. Slowly push the food out of the syringe at a constant velocity.After the marmoset consumes a proper amount of food, wipe its anus with a swab of warm water to clean the anus and promote defecation. Observe the locomotion of the animal for a few minutes and record these parameters. Keep the chassis of the incubator clean by picking up solid feces or changing to a new disposable diaper pad.Starting from P50, mix the ingredients directly in the weighing dishes to prepare the food. Place the food dish in the incubator, and fix the bottom in case it's turned over. For the first few times, guide the animal to eat voluntarily by luring it to the food dish and guiding its mouth to touch the food several times.Before returning the infant marmosets to the colony, move them from the animal incubator to small cages and hang a 50 milliliter water bottle on each small cage. After returning the infants to the colony, feed the infants separately with a plastic weighing dish for one week. Record the body weight and defecation status once per day.The body weight of each hand-reared infant was obtained and it increased gradually with age. The comparisons of the body weights between the hand-reared infants and the parent-raised infants at P30 and P60 show no significant differences between these two groups.

hand-rearing-procedure-for-raising-newborn-marmosets

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

184 Views.  Zhejiang University. To begin, clean and sterilize the room by spraying hypochlorous acid or 75%ethyl alcohol on the floor and table. After leaving for 30 seconds, wipe the table and mop the floor. Set the temperature of the incubator to 35 degrees Celsius and the humidity to 40%Tile a disposable diaper pad to cover the chassis of the incubator.To minimize the stress of the infants, place a couple of blankets and plush toys in the incubator before introducing the infant marmosets. Wear sterilized personal ...