Not enough apes and monkeys are being bred for scientific research, and the shortfall could be slowing ground-breaking advances into neurological disease, HIV, drug development and genetics.

What is more, critical information about individual animals and the conditions they are kept in is not being made publicly available. That makes it difficult to gauge the scientific validity of experiments done on the primates, and hard for researchers to know that they are accurately reproducing each other’s work.

These are the disturbing conclusions of the first ever global audit of non-human primates used in scientific research. The audit scoured the scientific literature to identify how many monkeys and apes, and of what species, were used in 2001.

Nearly 3000 research papers revealed that 4411 studies were conducted using primates that year, with experiments performed on more than 41,000 individual animals.

EVANSTON, Ill., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/—A report titled “Polymorphisms in the Trace Amine Receptor 4 (TRAR4) Gene on Chromosome 6q23.2 are Associated with Susceptibility to Schizophrenia,” was published online this week in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The study tested 827 individuals from 192 families and presents findings that indicate a trace amine receptor gene in the chromosome 6 may play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Researchers believe their work could result in opportunities for better pharmacology and ultimately prevention.