Diurnal patterns of hemodynamic performance in nonhuman primates.

Heart rate, stroke volume, and intra-arterial blood pressures were monitored continuously in each of four monkeys for 18 consecutive hours, 5 days/wk, for several weeks. Mean heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, systolic and diastolic pressure, and total peripheral resistance were calculated each minute, and these averages were analyzed further to yield hourly means and intercorrelations. The main findings from the analyses of mean levels were that cardiac output fell throughout the night and that peripheral resistance rose during the same interval so that arterial pressure fell only slightly; the highest levels of peripheral resistance and lowest levels of cardiac output were recorded between 0500 and 0700. Furthermore, the levels of these responses during the remainder of the morning were higher (peripheral resistance) and lower (cardiac output) than those recorded in the evening.