Effects of Estrogen in Gender-dependent Fetal Programming of Adult Cardiovascular Dysfunction

Current Vascular Pharmacology
Zewen ChenDaliao Xiao

Abstract

Epidemiological studies and experimental studies have demonstrated that intrauterine adverse environment increases the risk of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in adulthood. However, whether an individual develops a cardiovascular dysfunctional phenotype may depend on genetic background, age, and sex. In this review, we summarize some of the recent experimental animal studies in the developmental programming of adult CVD with an emphasis on sex differences and the potential role of estrogen in mediating sexual dimorphism. Few epidemiological studies report the effect of sex on the developmental programming of CVD. However, numerous experimental animal studies have shown a sex difference in fetal programming of adult cardiovascular dysfunction. Most of the animal studies indicate that male offspring develop cardiovascular dysfunction and CVD in adulthood, whereas adult females appear to be protected. Estrogen is one of the key factors that contributes to the sex difference of adult CVD. Estrogen/its Receptor (ER) may interact with the RAS system by changes of DNA methylation patterns at the target gene promoter, serve as an antioxidant to counteract the prenatal insults-induced heightened ROS, and function as an eNOS activator to in...Continue Reading

References

Sep 12, 1991·The New England Journal of Medicine·M J StampferC H Hennekens
Mar 1, 1995·Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Part A, Physiology·S C Langley-Evans, A A Jackson
Jan 22, 1998·The American Journal of Physiology·C D OldhamS W May
Mar 29, 2000·Theriogenology·D J Barker
Jun 19, 2001·Pediatric Nephrology : Journal of the International Pediatric Nephrology Association·J Manning, V M Vehaskari
Jan 4, 2003·Hypertension·Imran Y KhanLucilla Poston
Mar 5, 2003·Advances in Renal Replacement Therapy·Kathryn Sandberg, Hong Ji
Apr 19, 2005·American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology·D G HemmingsS T Davidge
Jun 3, 2006·American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology·C YzydorczykA M Nuyt
Oct 28, 2006·The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics·DaLiao XiaoLubo Zhang
Jan 11, 2007·Pediatric Research·Jeffrey S GilbertMark J Nijland
Oct 31, 2008·American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology·Jeffrey S Gilbert, Mark J Nijland
Jun 13, 2009·Vascular Pharmacology·Modou Oumy KaneValérie B Schini-Kerth
Nov 6, 2009·The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience·Quan-Guang ZhangDarrell W Brann
Jul 23, 2011·British Journal of Pharmacology·Daliao XiaoLubo Zhang
Dec 6, 2011·Cardiovascular Research·Andrew J PattersonLubo Zhang
Oct 21, 2016·Biology of Sex Differences·Sarah Schalekamp-TimmermansBero O Verburg
Feb 18, 2017·PloS One·Pilar Rodríguez-RodríguezSilvia M Arribas
Oct 29, 2017·Journal of the American Heart Association·Indu G PoornimaUNKNOWN WHI and WHI‐CAC Study Investigators

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Cardiovascular Disease Pathophysiology

Cardiovascular disease involves several different processes that contribute to the pathological mechanism, including hyperglycemia, inflammation, atherosclerosis, hypertension and more. Vasculature stability plays a critical role in the development of the disease. Discover the latest research on cardiovascular disease pathophysiology here.