Studies of heart disease and failure in aged female squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sp.).

Lesions consistent with heart failure were found in 23 of 88 adult squirrel monkeys that died between 1995 and 1999 at the Squirrel Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (SMBRR). This provided a rationale for a study surveying aged animals in the SMBRR for normal cardiac characteristics, using echocardiography (ECHO) and electro-cardiogram. In the pilot study, ECHO and electrocardiography were performed on 59 healthy female squirrel monkeys aged 10 years or older and 39 five-year-old monkeys.