Selective myocardial cell necrosis in nonhuman primates.

A retrospective study was performed to describe the histologic stages of selective myocardial cell necrosis (SMCN) in nonhuman primates, and to compare the incidence of SMCN in two groups of nonhuman primates. Myocardial tissues taken at the time of autopsy from 50 primates at an experimental center were compared with similar tissues from 50 primates housed in a breeding colony. SMCN was confirmed in 20% of the experimental primates and 30% of the breeding primates, proportions that were not significantly different. The incidence and histologic characteristics of SMCN in nonhuman primates were similar to those described in humans, and resembled the lesion produced in experimental primates by administration of catecholamines of by hypokalemia.