Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats

Sexual dimorphism in blood pressure has been associated with differential expression of the angiotensin II (AII) receptors and with activity of the nervous system. It is generally accepted that aging affects kidney function as well as autonomic nervous system and hormonal balance. Given that hyperte...

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Main Authors: Pijacka, Wioletta, Clifford, Bethan, Walas, Dawid, Tilburgs, Chantal, Joles, Jaap A., McMullen, Sarah, Langley-Evans, Simon C.
Format: Article
Published: BioMed Central 2016
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37838/
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author Pijacka, Wioletta
Clifford, Bethan
Walas, Dawid
Tilburgs, Chantal
Joles, Jaap A.
McMullen, Sarah
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
author_facet Pijacka, Wioletta
Clifford, Bethan
Walas, Dawid
Tilburgs, Chantal
Joles, Jaap A.
McMullen, Sarah
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
author_sort Pijacka, Wioletta
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Sexual dimorphism in blood pressure has been associated with differential expression of the angiotensin II (AII) receptors and with activity of the nervous system. It is generally accepted that aging affects kidney function as well as autonomic nervous system and hormonal balance. Given that hypertension is more prevalent in men than women until women reach their seventh decade we hypothesised that females would be relatively protected from adverse effects of ageing compared to males, and that this would be mediated by the protective effect of ovarian steroids. Intact and gonadectomised male and female normotensive Wistar rats aged 6, 12 and 18 months were used to study renal function, blood pressure, heart rate and blood pressure variability. We observed that intact females had lower levels of proteinuria and higher (12.5%) creatinine clearance compared to intact males, and that this difference was abolished by castration but not by ovariectomy. Ovariectomy resulted in a change by 9% in heart rate, resulting in similar cardiovascular parameters to those observed in males or gonadectomised males. Spectral analysis of systolic blood pressure revealed that high frequency power spectra were significantly elevated in the females vs. males and were reduced by ovariectomy. Taken altogether the results show that females are protected from age-related declining renal function and to a lesser extent from rising blood pressure in comparison to males. Whilst ovariectomy had some deleterious effects in females, the strongest effects were associated with gonadectomy in males, suggesting a damaging effect of male hormones.
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spelling nottingham-378382020-05-04T18:27:42Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37838/ Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats Pijacka, Wioletta Clifford, Bethan Walas, Dawid Tilburgs, Chantal Joles, Jaap A. McMullen, Sarah Langley-Evans, Simon C. Sexual dimorphism in blood pressure has been associated with differential expression of the angiotensin II (AII) receptors and with activity of the nervous system. It is generally accepted that aging affects kidney function as well as autonomic nervous system and hormonal balance. Given that hypertension is more prevalent in men than women until women reach their seventh decade we hypothesised that females would be relatively protected from adverse effects of ageing compared to males, and that this would be mediated by the protective effect of ovarian steroids. Intact and gonadectomised male and female normotensive Wistar rats aged 6, 12 and 18 months were used to study renal function, blood pressure, heart rate and blood pressure variability. We observed that intact females had lower levels of proteinuria and higher (12.5%) creatinine clearance compared to intact males, and that this difference was abolished by castration but not by ovariectomy. Ovariectomy resulted in a change by 9% in heart rate, resulting in similar cardiovascular parameters to those observed in males or gonadectomised males. Spectral analysis of systolic blood pressure revealed that high frequency power spectra were significantly elevated in the females vs. males and were reduced by ovariectomy. Taken altogether the results show that females are protected from age-related declining renal function and to a lesser extent from rising blood pressure in comparison to males. Whilst ovariectomy had some deleterious effects in females, the strongest effects were associated with gonadectomy in males, suggesting a damaging effect of male hormones. BioMed Central 2016-12-03 Article PeerReviewed Pijacka, Wioletta, Clifford, Bethan, Walas, Dawid, Tilburgs, Chantal, Joles, Jaap A., McMullen, Sarah and Langley-Evans, Simon C. (2016) Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats. Biology of Sex Differences, 7 . 64/1-64/12. ISSN 2042-6410 gonadectomy blood pressure renal function https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13293-016-0111-9 doi:10.1186/s13293-016-0111-9 doi:10.1186/s13293-016-0111-9
spellingShingle gonadectomy
blood pressure
renal function
Pijacka, Wioletta
Clifford, Bethan
Walas, Dawid
Tilburgs, Chantal
Joles, Jaap A.
McMullen, Sarah
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title_full Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title_fullStr Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title_full_unstemmed Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title_short Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
title_sort impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats
topic gonadectomy
blood pressure
renal function
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37838/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37838/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37838/