Paradoxical effect of testosterone supplementation therapy on cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury in aged rats

Publication date: Available online 28 March 2019Source: The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyAuthor(s): Fernando A.C. Seara, Raiana A.Q. Barbosa, Marcus V.N. Santos, Ainá E. Domingos, Gustavo Monnerat, Adriana B. Carvalho, Emerson L. Olivares, José G. Mill, Jose H.M. Nascimento, Antonio C. Campos de CarvalhoAbstractAging is followed by numerous physiological limitations that reduce health span, particularly cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Testosterone supplementation therapy (TST) has been widely used in the treatment of aging dysfunctions in either adult or aged patients, although recent evidence have suggested that the incidence of myocardial infarction might be increased in elderly patients. So far, though, the effects of TST in the progression of cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury in aged hearts remain unclear. Male aged (23-24 months old) and adult (6 months old) Wistar rats were treated with placebo (Old + Placebo n = 5 / Adult + Placebo n = 5) or TST (Old + TST n = 7 / Adult + TST n = 5) for 30 days. After euthanasia, artificially-perfused isolated rat hearts were submitted to IR. Cardiac expression levels of genes encoding α and β myosin heavy chain (MHC), ryanodine receptor (RyR), brain-natriuretic peptide (BNP), sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase 2a (SERCA2a), glucose-regulated protein 78 kDa (GRP78), eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (eIF2α), C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP), caspase 3 and B cel...
Source: The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research