strategies and methods to study sex differences in cardiovascular structure and function a guide for basic scientists策略和方法研究性别差异在心血管结构和功能基础科学家的指导.pdf

Miller et al. Biology of Sex Differences 2011, 2:14 /content/2/1/14 REVIEW Open Access Strategies and methods to study sex differences in cardiovascular structure and function: a guide for basic scientists 1* 2 3 4 5 6 Virginia M Miller , Jay R Kaplan , Nicholas J Schork , Pamela Ouyang , Sarah L Berga , Nanette K Wenger , 7 8 9 10 11 12 Leslee J Shaw , R Clinton Webb , Monica Mallampalli , Meir Steiner , Doris A Taylor , C Noel Bairey Merz and Jane F Reckelhoff13 Abstract Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the primary cause of death worldwide. In the US, deaths due to cardiovascular disease for women exceed those of men. While cultural and psychosocial factors such as education, economic status, marital status and access to healthcare contribute to sex differences in adverse outcomes, physiological and molecular bases of differences between women and men that contribute to development of cardiovascular disease and response to therapy remain underexplored. Methods: This article describes concepts, methods and procedures to assist in the design of animal and tissue/cell based studies of sex differences in cardiovascular structure, function and models of disease. Results: To address knowledge gaps, study designs must incorporate appropriate experimental material including species/strain characteristics, sex and hormonal status. Determining whether a sex difference exists in a trait must take into account the reproductive status and history of the animal including those used for tissue (cell) harvest, such as the presence of gonadal steroi