HERITABILITIES OF CLINICAL CHEMICAL TRAITS IN CHIMPANZEES

Clinical chemical measures are commonly used biomarkers of health stat us in nonhuman primates and may also serve as important covariates or outcome variables in experimental protocols. There is a considerable r ange of normal variation in most clinical chemical traits and the dete rminants of this variation have been relatively unexplored in nonhuman primates used as animal models in biomedical research. This study ass esses the evidence for genetic determinants of normal variation in nin e clinical chemical traits (blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, potassium , sodium, CO2, glucose, albumin, globulin, and total cholesterol conce ntrations) in an important animal model, the chimpanzee. We found sign ificant moderate heritabilities for potassium, sodium, albumin, globul in, and total cholesterol. The results provide information useful for addressing issues in both genetic management and experimental research .