An echocardiographic study of age- and sex-dependent differences in cardiac function and morphometry in Non Human Primates

National Institute On Aging

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Abstract

In this cross-sectional study, 39 healthy rhesus monkeys (20 females and 19 males) were divided based on age in young and old. 2D echocardiograms have been performed on all rhesus monkeys, both males and females, to establish which age- and sex-dependent differences are present in function, wall thickness and chamber volumes. Echocardiography has been performed on NHP in Poolesville, Maryland, USA, and data have been collected by Drs. Florio and Capogrossi at the NIA. The analyses have been performed in collaboration with Drs. Pepi, Tamborini, and Fusini at the Centro Cardiologico Monzino in Milan (Italy) because of their expertise in human clinical echocardiography. Major findings: Cardiac structure: diameters of the cardiac chambers barely changed with aging, but males and females have substantial differences in many parameters related to the cardiac geometry; Left ventricular function: cardiac output increased significantly with aging in all animals and males have higher CO than females and the stroke volume was higher in males than females, although the tendency in increasing with aging is more pronounced in females. Fraction of shortening increased with aging only in female animals, who also presented a higher EF than males among all ages. Diastolic function, defined by E/A, was significantly aging and gender dependent; Right ventricular function was evaluated by measuring the TAPSE and FWLS. TAPSE decreased with aging and was significantly lower in females, whereas FWLS did not change with aging, but it was lower in male animals. A manuscript is currently in preparation.