Predominant coronary and cerebral atherosclerosis in captive nonhuman primates

The aortas and the coronary and cerebral arteries have been examined for atherosclerotic involvement in a group of 91 captive nonhuman primates, including 32 species. In prosimians, monkeys, and baboons the distribution of lesions was similar to that recorded in the literature, and to that in humans without ischemic disease; i.e., aortic greater than coronary greater than cerebral atherosclerosis. The reverse was true in three of the five anthropoids studied. In these animals (two chimpanzees and one gorilla), focal proximal coronary and cerebral artery plaques were numerous, and, more important, were several times as thick as their more diffuse aortic counterparts. Literature review revealed several examples of marked coronary or cerebral atherosclerosis in chimpanzees, and the combination of this information with the present data suggests that the chimpanzee may represent an appropriate model for the study of precocious coronary and cerebral artery artherosclerosis.