Sex Differences in Rat Heart Ventricle Function Aren’t Caused Only by Hormones

Article title: Female rats are less prone to clinical heart failure than male rats in a juvenile rat model of right ventricular pressure load

Authors: Guido P.L. Bossers, Quint A.J. Hagdorn, Anne Marie C. Koop, Diederik E. van der Feen, Tom van Leusden, Beatrijs Bartelds, Rudolf A. de Boer, Herman H.W. Silljé, Rolf M.F. Berger

From the authors: “Female rats show superior [right ventricular] function and less diastolic dysfunction and fibrosis, compared to male rats. These differences are already present prior to puberty, indicating that the differences in [right ventricular] adaptation are not only determined by sex hormones.”

This study is highlighted as one of May’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.