Expression data from the hearts of aged Norway Brown rats (18-22 months-old)

Despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary from animal studies, large clinical trials on humans have shown that estrogen administered to post-menopausal women increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, timing may be everything, as estrogen is often administered immediately after ovariectomy (ovx) in animal studies, while estrogen administration in human studies occurred many years post-menopause. This study investigates the discrepancy by administering 17-estradiol (E2) in a slow-release capsule to Norway Brown rats both immediately following ovx and 9 weeks post-ovx (Late), and studying differences in gene expression between these 2 groups as compared to age-matched ovx and sham operated animals. Two different types of microarray were used to analyze the left ventricles from these groups: an Affymetrix array (2 samples/group, each sample contained total RNAs pooled from 3 rats) and an Inflammatory Cytokines and Receptors PCR array (N=4 /group). Key genes were analyzed by western blotting. Ovx without replacement led to an increase in caspase 3, caspase 9, calpain 2, MMP9, and TNF. Caspase 6, STAT3, and CD11b increased in the Late group, while TIMP2, MMP14, and collagen I 1 were decreased. MADD and fibronectin were increased in both Ovx and Late. TNF protein levels increased with Late replacement. Many of these changes were prevented by early E2 replacement. These findings suggest that increased TNF may be involved in some of the deleterious effects of delayed E2 administration seen in human studies.

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Pechenino AS, Lin L, Mbai FN, Lee AR, He XM, Stallone JN, Knowlton AA