Project description:Aims: We investigate sex differences and the role of oestrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) in a mouse model of pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy. Methods and results: We performed transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham surgery in male and female wild-type (WT) and ER knockout (ERbeta-/-) C57Bl6 mice. All mice were characterised by echocardiography and haemodynamic measurements and were sacrificed nine weeks after surgery. Left ventricular (LV) samples were analysed by microarray profiling, real-time RT-PCR and histology. After nine weeks, WT males showed more hypertrophy and heart failure signs than WT females. Notably, WT females developed a concentric form of hypertrophy, while males developed eccentric hypertrophy. These sex differences were abolished in ERbeta-/- mice. ERbeta deletion augmented the TAC-induced increase in cardiomyocyte diameter in both sexes. Gene expression profiling revealed that male WT hearts had a stronger induction of matrix-related genes and a stronger repression of mitochondrial genes than female hearts. ERbeta-/- mice exhibited a different transcriptome. Induction of pro-apoptotic genes after TAC occurred in ERbeta-/- mice of both sexes with a stronger expression in ERbeta-/- males. Histological analysis revealed, that cardiac fibrosis was more pronounced in male WT TAC than in female mice. This was abolished in ERbeta-/- mice. Apoptosis was significantly induced in both sexes of ERbeta-/- TAC mice, but it was most prominent in males. Conclusion: Female sex offers protection against ventricular chamber dilation in the TAC model. Both the female sex and ER attenuate the development of fibrosis and apoptosis; thus slowing the progression to heart failure. The influence of sex (male/female) and estrogen receptor beta expression (ERbeta knockout/wildtype) on cardiac hypertrophy (transverse aortic constriction/sham operated) was investigated. The left ventricular transcriptome of four individual mice for each combination of the three factors (sex, genotype, surgery) was detected with Affymetrix RAE 430 2.0 GeneChip arrays.
Project description:Aims: We investigate sex differences and the role of oestrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) in a mouse model of pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy. Methods and results: We performed transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham surgery in male and female wild-type (WT) and ERbeta knockout (ERbeta-/-) C57Bl6 mice. All mice were characterised by echocardiography and haemodynamic measurements and were sacrificed nine weeks after surgery. Left ventricular (LV) samples were analysed by microarray profiling, real-time RT-PCR and histology. After nine weeks, WT males showed more hypertrophy and heart failure signs than WT females. Notably, WT females developed a concentric form of hypertrophy, while males developed eccentric hypertrophy. These sex differences were abolished in ERbeta-/- mice. ERbeta deletion augmented the TAC-induced increase in cardiomyocyte diameter in both sexes. Gene expression profiling revealed that male WT hearts had a stronger induction of matrix-related genes and a stronger repression of mitochondrial genes than female hearts. ERbeta-/- mice exhibited a different transcriptome. Induction of pro-apoptotic genes after TAC occurred in ERbeta-/- mice of both sexes with a stronger expression in ERbeta-/- males. Histological analysis revealed, that cardiac fibrosis was more pronounced in male WT TAC than in female mice. This was abolished in ERbeta-/- mice. Apoptosis was significantly induced in both sexes of ERbeta-/- TAC mice, but it was most prominent in males. Conclusion: Female sex offers protection against ventricular chamber dilation in the TAC model. Both the female sex and ERbeta attenuate the development of fibrosis and apoptosis; thus slowing the progression to heart failure.
Project description:Pressure overload (PO) leads first to cardiac hypertrophy and later to heart failure. In mice, PO leads to sex differences in cardiac morphology and function. However, early sex differences in gene regulation that precede sex differences in function have not yet been identified. To identify such changes, we developed a model of PO that is characterized by compensated hypertrophy without sex differences after 2 weeks and by heart failure with sex differences after 9 weeks. We used transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham-operation in male and female mice and analyzed gene expression by microarray experiments. Experiment Overall Design: The gene expression induced by pressure overload in female and male mice in comparison to sham operated control mice was investigated. For each of these four conditions four biological replicates were performed and the individual samples were hybridized seperately on Affymetrix RAE 430A GeneChip Arrays.
Project description:Pressure overload (PO) leads first to cardiac hypertrophy and later to heart failure. In mice, PO leads to sex differences in cardiac morphology and function. However, early sex differences in gene regulation that precede sex differences in function have not yet been identified. To identify such changes, we developed a model of PO that is characterized by compensated hypertrophy without sex differences after 2 weeks and by heart failure with sex differences after 9 weeks. We used transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham-operation in male and female mice and analyzed gene expression by microarray experiments. Keywords: the influence of gender on hypertrophic gene expression
Project description:Pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy was examined in IL-18 knockout and littermate control mice. Experiment Overall Design: 4 groups with RNA pooled from 5-6 per group. Role of IL-18 on gene expression in cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload (transaortic constriction)
Project description:In order to better understand sex-related differences of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), male and female kittens underwent aortic contriction surgery (banding) or sham surgery (normal). Slow progressive pressure overload was then compared between male and female kittens, analyzing structural and functional phenotypes. Transcriptional differences between male and female kittens were investigated via single nuclear RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) within left ventricle tissue.
Project description:Tissue fibrosis and organ dysfunction are hallmarks of age-related diseases including heart failure, but it remains elusive whether there is a common pathway to induce both events. Through single-cell RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and genetic perturbation, we elucidate that high-temperature requirement A serine peptidase 3 (Htra3) is a critical regulator of cardiac fibrosis and heart failure by maintaining the identity of quiescent cardiac fibroblasts through degrading transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Pressure overload downregulates expression of Htra3 in cardiac fibroblasts and activated TGF-β signaling, which induces not only cardiac fibrosis but also heart failure through DNA damage accumulation and secretory phenotype induction in failing cardiomyocytes. Overexpression of Htra3 in the heart inhibits TGF-β signaling and ameliorates cardiac dysfunction after pressure overload. Htra3-regulated induction of spatio-temporal cardiac fibrosis and cardiomyocyte secretory phenotype are observed specifically in infarct regions after myocardial infarction. Integrative analyses of single-cardiomyocyte transcriptome and plasma proteome in human reveal that IGFBP7, which is a cytokine downstream of TGF-β and secreted from failing cardiomyocytes, is the most predictable marker of advanced heart failure. These findings highlight the roles of cardiac fibroblasts in regulating cardiomyocyte homeostasis and cardiac fibrosis through the Htra3-TGF-β-IGFBP7 pathway, which would be a therapeutic target for heart failure.