Are there gender differences in left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction in rats?

OBJECTIVE An unclear issue is whether gender may influence at cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). We evaluated left ventricle remodeling in female and male rats post-MI. METHODS Rats were submitted to anterior descending coronary occlusion. Echocardiographic evaluations were performed on the first and sixth week post-occlusion to determine myocardial infarction size and left ventricle systolic function (FAC, fractional area change). Pulsed Doppler was applied to analyze left ventricle diastolic function using the following parameters: E wave, A wave, E/A ratio. Two-way ANOVA was applied for comparisons, complemented by the Bonferroni test. A P≤=0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS There were no significant differences between genders for morphometric parameters on first (MI [Female (FE): 44.0 ± 5.0 vs. Male (MA): 42.0 ± 3.0%]; diastolic [FE: 0.04 ± 0.003 vs. MA: 0.037 ± 0.005, mm/g] and systolic [FE: 0.03 ± 0.0004 vs. MA: 0.028 ± 0.005, mm/g] diameters of left ventricle) and sixth (MI [FE: 44.0 ± 5.0 vs. MA: 42.0 ± 3.0, %]; diastolic [FE: 0.043 ± 0.01 vs. MA: 0.034 ± 0.005, mm/g] and systolic [FE: 0.035 ± 0.01 vs. MA: 0.027 ± 0.005, mm/g] of LV) week. Similar findings were reported for left ventricle functional parameters on first (FAC [FE: 34.0 ± 6.0 vs. MA: 32.0 ± 4.0, %]; wave E [FE: 70.0 ± 18.0 vs. MA: 73.0 ± 14.0, cm/s]; wave A [FE: 20.0 ± 12.0 vs. MA: 28.0 ± 13.0, cm/s]; E/A [FE: 4.9 ± 3.4 vs. MA: 3.3 ± 1.8]) and sixth (FAC [FE: 29.0 ± 7.0 vs. MA: 31.0 ± 7.0, %]; wave E [FE: 85.0 ± 18.0 vs. MA: 87.0 ± 20.0, cm/s]; wave A [FE: 20.0 ± 11.0 vs. MA: 28.0 ± 17.0, cm/s]; E/A [FE: 6.2 ± 4.0 vs. MA: 4.6 ± 3.4]) week. CONCLUSION Gender does not influence left ventricle remodeling post-MI in rats.