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Diagnosis: Fatal Fasting Syndrome of Obese Macaques

Lab Animal volume 32, pages 24–25 (2003)Cite this article

This is a disease syndrome of sudden death in obese macaques with no prior indication of illness. It often follows brief periods of anorexia or weight loss with as much as 20–30% loss of body weight occurring during a period of a few days to two weeks. Fatal fasting syndrome is also known as fatal fatty liver-kidney syndrome or obese macaque syndrome in some older references. Bronson et al. described 42 cases of the syndrome in one colony of macaques over a ten-year period1. These cases involved four species of macaques, most of which were adult female M. fascicularis or M. mulatta. In another macaque colony Laber-Laird et al. described 19 similar cases over an eight-year period, mostly involving adult female M. fascicularis2. Fatal fasting syndrome accounted for 11% of the deaths of this species in the colony.

No apparent single husbandry practice or disease accounts for the occurrence of this syndrome. Some researchers believe a stress, such as a change in housing, may be enough to trigger rapid weight loss and the disease in some obese macaques1,2. Although we do not understand the pathogenesis, the rapid weight loss implies a negative energy balance that can cause mobilization of free fatty acids from the adipose tissue stores with subsequent fatty change in several tissues. Elevated clinical parameters are more compatible with renal malfunction than with liver failure despite the diffuse hepatic lipidosis, as blood urea nitrogen and creatinine are consistently elevated. Blood triglyceride levels may also be elevated. Pancreatic acinar ectasia (PAE) is a common incidental finding in people dying from uremia3. PAE can be seen as incidental post-mortem finding in many conditions that disturb fluid balance and/or nutrition4.

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  1. Thomas M. Donnelly DVM
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Donnelly, T. Diagnosis: Fatal Fasting Syndrome of Obese Macaques. Lab Anim 32, 24–25 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0803-24

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