Age- and pregnancy-related changes in serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques.

Ninety-six free-ranging rhesus monkeys were evaluated for age-, sex-, and pregnancy-related changes in total serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels and compared with previous studies. Our findings indicate that pregnancy depresses total cholesterol in females and that cholesterol levels tend to increase in males with age. Triglycerides decreased significantly with advancing age in males. The Cayo Santiago monkeys represent a unique opportunity to study the effects of age on population of nearly 1200 nonhuman primates on which there is accurate data on birth date, lineage, behavior, reproduction and post-mortem morphology (skeletons). Further gerontological studies are necessary to take full advantage of this resource and to increase the presently-scant body of information on aging in monkeys for comparative studies on humans and for the development of animal models of gerontological diseases of humans.