Special issue  

For the first time internal structures of the nasal region were studied in different ontogenetic stages of selected species of tree shrews (Scandentia) based on histology and µCT. The observed morphology of the turbinal skeleton reveals important characters for future systematic analyses. The pattern of the interorbital septum, a bony plate that separates the orbits, and its relevance for the closely related Primates are discussed in terms of ontogeny and functional morphology.

Lentiviral immunodeficiency viruses cause AIDS in humans and in non-human primates. Macaques are a suitable animal model to study infection, disease and the immune response against the retrovirus. As to prion disease, we established a rhesus monkey infection model for this unique infectious pathogen. Animals were experimentally infected with human and bovine prions. Unlike in human prion disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), we observed early and late stages of disease.