AGING AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN HUMAN AND NONHUMAN-PRIMATES

Atherosclerosis is a major age-related process and public health probl em and its clinical manifestations (coronary heart disease [CHD] and c erebrovascular disease) continue to be responsible for approximately 5 0% of all deaths occurring annually. In addition, CHD is responsible f or over 70 to 80% of deaths among men and women over 65 years old. As our population ages (35 million people over the age of 65 in the U.S. by the year 2030) and because of the increased morbidity and mortality associated with atherosclerosis, an understanding of the role of agin g in the development of atherosclerosis is needed. Multiple risk facto rs such as smoking, gender, hypertension, and lipids contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. However, these risk factors in combin ation explain only about half of the individual variability in inciden ce of CHD, and it has been hypothesized that age-related conditions ma y play a role. To propectively evaluate the effects of age per se on a therosclerosis progression in humans would require observation over ma ny years. Thus, animal models that are representative of both aging pr ocesses and atherosclerosis would be extremely valuable. As such, nonh uman primates have been used extensively in atherosclerosis research. However, studies that will specifically evaluate the role of aging per se in contributing to development of atherosclerosis in nonhuman prim ates have only recently been initiated. In this review, the contributi on of nonhuman primates to atherosclerosis research will be discussed, as will the development of atherosclerosis in both human and nonhuman primates. In addition, a role for age-related conditions in atheroscl erosis development in both human and nonhuman primates will be outline d.