Micromelic dysplasia-like syndrome in a captive colony of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).
Over several years, 0% to 5% of adolescent animals in a captive colony of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) showed severely bended arms and legs over several years. The animals showed no pain, discomfort, or altered behavior but were unable to stretch their distal limbs to their full extent. To characterize the lesion morphologically, the bones of 4 affected marmosets were compared macroscopically and radiographically with those of 6 unaffected animals. The deformities were characterized by mid- to distal diaphyseal bending and pronounced shortening of long bones. The morphology and density of other bones including the skull and vertebrae were unaffected. Although vitamin D values were low in a fifth affected marmoset during 10 to 16 mo of age, lesions associated with rickets were not observed. To our knowledge, this report is the first to describe a micromelic dysplasia-like syndrome comprising severe, idiopathic bending and shortening of long bones in a colony of marmosets.
Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium. leslie.bosseler@ugent.be.
Leslie
L
Bosseler
Department of Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Pieter
P
Cornillie
Department of Veterinary Medical Imaging and Small Animal Orthopaedics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Jimmy H
JH
Saunders
Department of Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
Jaco
J
Bakker
Department of Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
Jan A M
JA
Langermans
Department of Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium; Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Bio-chemical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Christophe
C
Casteleyn
Department of Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Annemie
A
Decostere
Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Koen
K
Chiers
D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D002144:Callithrix; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D010009:Osteochondrodysplasias / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood
D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; D014807:Vitamin D