Alfaxalone is a general anesthetic used widely in veterinary medicine and has a chemical structure similar to progesterone. Here we report an unexpectedly high serum progesterone value in a female common marmoset following the treatment with alfaxalone. Cross-reactivity of the antibody used in the progesterone assay with alfaxalone most likely explains this finding, and therefore evaluation of serum progesterone results in animals treated with alfaxalone should be done with caution.

Stem-cell-based regenerative therapies in patients, e.g., for a failing heart or Parkinson's disease, are within reach. However, studies in appropriate animal models are required to make the final step to the clinic. In this context, the baboon may represent a valuable animal model for specific purposes. Here, we generated five so-called induced pluripotent stem cell lines from the baboon, which may be useful for preclinical testing of the respective therapeutic approaches.

In some patients with blood cell cancer, the protein c-CBL was found to be mutated. c-CBL has also been shown to be expressed by human testicular stem cells, which produce the spermatozoa. Based on these finding, we asked whether c-CBL may be a protein generally involved in the functioning of stem cells. While we could not detect c-CBL in stem cells of the gut, strong expression was found in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) of the marmoset monkey, suggesting a role of c-CBL in primate PSCs.