Age-Dependent Decreases of Calcium, Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Zinc in the Cardiac Valves of Monkeys

Abstract

To elucidate compositional changes of the cardiac valves in monkey with aging, the authors investigated age-related changes of elements in the four cardiac valves of rhesus and Japanese monkeys and the relationships among elements by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The four cardiac valves of the aortic, pulmonary, mitral, and tricuspid valves were resected from 19 rhesus and 11 Japanese monkeys, ranging in age from 10 d to 33 yr. The element contents were determined by ICP-AES. It was found that the Ca, P, S, and Zn contents were high in the four cardiac valves of the monkeys below 1 yr and thereafter decreased significantly with aging, except for Ca in the mitral valve, for which no significant correlation was found between age and Ca content. The Ca and P contents did not increase in the four cardiac valves at old age. This result revealed that calcification scarcely occurred in the four cardiac valves at old age. With regard to the relationships among elements, it was found that there were significant direct correlations among the Ca, P, S, and Zn contents in all of the four cardiac valves of the monkeys, with two exceptions between P and Zn contents in both the aortic and pulmonary valves. Therefore, as Ca decreased in the four cardiac valves, P, S, and Zn decreased simultaneously in the same cardiac valves.

Age-Related Decrease of the Phosphorus Content in the Ligamentum Capitis Femoris of Monkeys

“…As the P content decreases in the LCF, the Ca, S, and Mg contents also decrease in the LCF, namely, as the active cell density of the connective tissue cells decreases in the LCF, such proteins as collagen also decrease in the LCF. Similarly significant direct correlations among the Ca, P, S, and Mg contents were also found in the four cardiac valves of monkeys which were composed mainly of the connective tissue [2].…”

“…It was found that in all of the four cardiac valves, cardiac walls of the left and right atria and ventricles, and sinoatrial nodes of monkeys, the P content decreased significantly in childhood. The manners of age-related changes of the P content were very similar between the LCF and four cardiac valves, which were composed mainly of the connective tissue [2].…”

“…As for the tissues of monkeys, the authors investigated age-related changes of elements in the coronary arteries [1], cardiac valves [2], cardiac walls [3], sinoatrial node [4,5], and peroneus longus tendon [6] and found that in all of the four cardiac valves, cardiac walls of the left and right atria and ventricles, and sinoatrial node, the P content decreased significantly in childhood. With regard to the coronary arteries, the P content did not change significantly in the left and right coronary arteries with aging.…”

Age-Related Changes of Elements in the Coronary Arteries of Monkeys in Comparison with Those of Humans

“…The authors previously investigated age-related changes of element contents in the four cardiac valves [38], sino-atrial nodes [39], and atrial and ventricular walls [40] of rhesus and Japanese monkeys and found that the Ca and P content decreased in all of the cardiac Fig. 8 Comparison in the average content of Ca between the coronary arteries of Japanese and Thai by age group.…”

Gender Differences in the Phosphorus Content of the Sino-atrial Nodes and Other Cardiac Regions of Monkeys

“…The authors previously investigated age-related changes of elements including P in the SAN [7], cardiac walls [8], cardiac valves [9], and coronary arteries [10] of monkeys without distinction of sex. In all of the SANs, cardiac walls of the left and right atrial walls, left and right ventricular walls, and interatrial and interventricular septa, mitral valves, and left coronary arteries of monkeys, the P content decreased significantly with development and aging.…”