Ventricular wall thickness and blood pressure values in normal cynomolgus monkeys.

In order to clarify the relationship between heart morphology and blood pressure, I examined the mutual correlation between the ventricular wall thicknesses of heart and body weight, heart weight, and arterial blood pressure in 15 normal male cynomolgus monkeys. The results obtained were as follows; (1) The mean and standard deviation of the arterial blood pressure was 68 +/- 8 mmHg at diastolic time and 124 +/- 12 mmHg at systolic time, respectively, and that of pulse rate was 227 +/- 17 beats per min under non-anesthesia. In addition, the mean and standard deviation of the arterial blood pressure was 55 +/- 11 mmHg at diastolic time and 102 +/- 18 mmHg at systolic time, respectively, and that of pulse rate was 197 +/- 17 beats per min under general anesthesia. (2) The mean and standard deviation of the left ventricular wall thickness was 6.6 +/- 1.1 mm at anterior, 5.3 +/- 1.0 mm at posterior, 5.9 +/- 0.9 mm at lateral, 5.4 +/- 1.2 mm at the interventricular septum, and that of the right ventricular wall thickness was 2.4 +/- 0.5 mm at anterior. (3) The mean and standard deviation of body weight was 4.1 +/- 0.7 kg, and that of heart weight was 16.5 +/- 3.1 g. (4) The heart weight and interventricular septum thickness correlated significantly to body weight, respectively. (5) There was no significant correlation between arterial blood pressure and the ventricular wall thickness. Further study should be necessary in more normal monkeys, together with abnormal ones with hypertension or cardiac hypertrophy, in order to evaluate the relationship between heart morphology and blood pressure.