The olive babbon (Papio anubis) as an animal model for research in affective disorders of man.

Efforts were made to develop an animal model for studies of the role of biogenic amines in a group of human "mood" diseases including mania and depression. Subadult, male olive baboons (Papio anubis), both normal and psychologically disturbed individuals, were anesthetized and administered 18O-enriched air for 60-130 minutes. Afterwards blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid were collected every hour, for 10 hours. The samples were subsequently fragmentographically analyzed for labelled metabolites of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The results showed that significant incorporation of 18O was found in all metabolities studied, with a peak after about 4 hours. The effect of chlorpromazine injection on 18o-incorporation was also measured. It was found that chlorpromazine caused a faster rise in labelling and indicated the stimulation of dopamine turnover in the brain. The usefulness of the animal model and the in vivo labelling technique for biogenic amine determination in the brain was demonstrated by the fact that the technique was subsequently used in human patients with neurologic disease.