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Translational Stroke Research
Published in: Translational Stroke Research 3/2017

01-06-2017 | Original Article

Sex Differences in the Cerebral Collateral Circulation

Authors: James E. Faber, Scott M. Moore, Jennifer L. Lucitti, Amir Aghajanian, Hua Zhang

Published in: Translational Stroke Research | Issue 3/2017

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Abstract

Premenopausal women and intact female rodents sustain smaller cerebral infarctions than males. Several sex-dependent differences have been identified as potential contributors, but many questions remain unanswered. Mice exhibit wide variation in native collateral number and diameter (collateral extent) that is dependent on differences in genetic background, aging, and other comorbidities and that contributes to their also-wide differences in infarct volume. Likewise, variation in infarct volume correlates with differences in collateral-dependent blood flow in patients with acute ischemic stroke. We examined whether extent of pial collateral arterioles and posterior communicating collateral arteries (PComAs) differ depending on sex in young, aged, obese, hypertensive, and genetically different mice. We combined new data with meta-analysis of our previously published data. Females of C57BL/6J (B6) and BALB/cByJ (BC) strains sustained smaller infarctions than males after permanent MCA occlusion. This protection was unchanged in BC mice after introgression of the B6 allele of Dce1, the major genetic determinant of variation in pial collaterals among mouse strains. Consistent with this, collateral extent in these and other strains did not differ with sex. Extent of PComAs and primary cerebral arteries also did not vary with sex. No dimorphism was evident for loss of pial collateral number and/or diameter (collateral rarefaction) caused by aging, obesity, and hypertension, nor for collateral remodeling after pMCAO. However, rarefaction was greater in females with long-standing hypertension. We conclude that smaller infarct volume in female mice is not due to greater collateral extent, greater remodeling, or less rarefaction caused by aging, obesity, or hypertension.
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Metadata
Title
Sex Differences in the Cerebral Collateral Circulation
Authors
James E. Faber
Scott M. Moore
Jennifer L. Lucitti
Amir Aghajanian
Hua Zhang
Publication date
01-06-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Translational Stroke Research / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 1868-4483
Electronic ISSN: 1868-601X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-016-0508-0

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