Protein-losing enteropathy in six macaques.

Using intravenous administration of radioactive labeled chromic chloride, which binds to plasma proteins, protein-losing enteropathy was documented in 6 macaques (Macaca mulatta and Macaca arctoides) with progressive weight loss and hypoalbuminemia. Four clinically normal macaques lost 0.5% +/- 0.1% of the label in feces over 4 days, compared with the diseased macaques, which lost from 1.0%--14.2% of the dose during the same period. Lesions in the small intestine (lymphangiectasia, amyloidosis of lamina propria, mast cell proliferation in the tunica muscularis and submucosa, and goblet cell hyperplasia) were associated with the protein-losing enteropathy.