High-risk pregnancy in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): a case of ectopic abdominal pregnancy with birth of a live term infant and a case of gestational diabetes complicated by pre-eclampsia

摘要

Several cases of abdominal pregnancy have been described in nonhuman primates. These previous occurrences have been mummified fetuses found in the abdominal cavity. This report describes a case of abdominal pregnancy in a timed-bred rhesus monkey with delivery of a live term infant. The mother died 14 days later from complications of septic peritonitis. At necropsy, the monkey had an intestinal adenocarcinoma that may have allowed leakage of intestinal contents into the abdomen. The second case of pregnancy complication was a rhesus monkey found to have gestational diabetes that later developed pre-eclampsia. She was treated for 5 days with a regimen similar to that used in women, and a live infant was delivered at day 157 of gestation by Caesarian section. These cases of high-risk pregnancy underscore the value of timed-breeding and careful monitoring of pregnant monkeys and the similarities between pregnancy complications in women and in nonhuman primates.