Senile systemic amyloidosis in an aged savannah monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) with tenosynovial degeneration

Abstract

Senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) is a rather common disease in elderly people, but it is very rare in animals, including non-human primates. Pathological examination of a 26-year-old male savannah monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) revealed systemic amyloidosis with severe cardiac fibrosis, and tenosynovial degeneration of the elbow and knee joints. The amyloid deposits were observed predominantly in the heart, lung, intestine and tenosynovium, and were positive for transthyretin (TTR) in immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemical results, together with the distribution of the amyloid deposited lesions and the age of the monkey, were equivalent to those of human SSA. This is the second case of animal SSA with unprecedented TTR amyloid deposited lesions of the tenosynovium resembling human SSA. There may be a genetic factor that makes this species susceptible to SSA, since SSA has been reported in no other mammal besides humans.