Gender and baboon aortic steroid hormone receptors

Medroxyprogesterone acetate and dihydrotestosterone induce coronary hyperreactivity in intact male rhesus monkeys

Coronary hyperreactivity (CH), characterized by persistent severe vasoconstrictions in response to vasoconstrictor challenge, is oppositely influenced by progesterone (P) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) treatment in surgically menopausal primates. In this study we tested whether multiweek MPA or dihydrotestosterone (DHT) exposure induced CH in intact male rhesus monkeys. Coronary angiographic experiments with intracoronary serotonin and the thromboxane A(2) analog U46619 stimulated brief vasoconstriction (for 1-3 min) in large epicardial coronaries in untreated male monkeys. In contrast, MPA- and DHT-treated monkeys displayed long-duration constrictions (>5 min), with significantly greater reductions in the minimal diameters of epicardial coronaries. Immunocytochemistry demonstrated androgen receptors (AR) and P receptors in aorta and coronary arteries, and immunocytochemistry and Western blotting showed AR and P receptors in rhesus coronary vascular muscle cells. In vivo, MPA or DHT increased thromboxane prostanoid (TP) receptor expression in the aorta. In vitro, MPA or DHT increased, whereas P did not change, TP receptor expression in primary coronary vascular muscle cell. This MPA- or DHT-mediated increase in TP receptor expression was attenuated by the AR antagonist flutamide. MPA or DHT induction of CH in intact adult male primates, hypothesized to occur via androgenic up-regulation of vascular muscle TP receptor expression, could predispose to CH-mediated myocardial ischemia.

Androgens and cardiovascular disease

Globally, cardiovascular disease will continue causing most human deaths for the foreseeable future. The consistent gender gap in life span of approximately 5.6 yr in all advanced economies must derive from gender differences in age-specific cardiovascular death rates, which rise steeply in parallel for both genders but 5-10 yr earlier in men. The lack of inflection point at modal age of menopause, contrasting with unequivocally estrogen-dependent biological markers like breast cancer or bone density, makes estrogen protection of premenopausal women an unlikely explanation. Limited human data suggest that testosterone exposure does not shorten life span in either gender, and oral estrogen treatment increases risk of cardiovascular death in men as it does in women. Alternatively, androgen exposure in early life (perinatal androgen imprinting) may predispose males to earlier onset of atherosclerosis. Following the recent reevaluation of the estrogen-protection orthodoxy, empirical research has flourished into the role of androgens in the progression of cardiovascular disease, highlighting the need to better understand androgen receptor (AR) coregulators, nongenomic androgen effects, tissue-specific metabolic activation of androgens, and androgen sensitivity. Novel therapeutic targets may arise from understanding how androgens enhance early plaque formation and cause vasodilatation via nongenomic androgen effects on vascular smooth muscle, and how tissue-specific variations in androgen effects are modulated by AR coregulators as well as metabolic activation of testosterone to amplify (via 5alpha-reductase to form dihydrotestosterone acting on AR) or diversify (via aromatization to estradiol acting upon estrogen receptor alpha/beta) the biological effects of testosterone on the vasculature. Observational studies show that blood testosterone concentrations are consistently lower among men with cardiovascular disease, suggesting a possible preventive role for testosterone therapy, which requires critical evaluation by further prospective studies. Short-term interventional studies show that testosterone produces a modest but consistent improvement in cardiac ischemia over placebo, comparable to the effects of existing antianginal drugs. By contrast, testosterone therapy has no beneficial effects in peripheral arterial disease but has not been evaluated in cerebrovascular disease. Erectile dysfunction is most frequently caused by pelvic arterial insufficiency due to atherosclerosis, and its sentinel relationship to generalized atherosclerosis is insufficiently appreciated. The commonality of risk factor patterns and mechanisms (including endothelial dysfunction) suggests that the efficacy of antiatherogenic therapy is an important challenge with the potential to enhance men's motivation for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

B cells express intracellular but not surface receptors for testosterone and estradiol

Increasing evidence indicates the existence of membrane receptors for testosterone (mAR) and estradiol (mER) on the surface of cells, besides the classic intracellular androgen receptor (iAR) and estrogen receptors (iER). Here, we investigate the occurrence of sex steroid receptors in B cells isolated from the spleen of C57BL/10 mice using magnetic cell sorting. RT-PCR reveals the presence of iAR, iERalpha, but not iERbeta. Using different anti-iAR and anti-iER antibodies flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) localize iAR and iERalpha in the cytoplasm, which are translocatable to the nucleus upon incubation with testosterone (T) and 17beta-estradiol (E(2)). The surface of B cells is devoid of iAR and iERalpha and does not bind any T and E(2) conjugated to BSA-FITC as revealed by flow cytometry and CLSM. In accordance, T and E(2) are not able to induce any rapid rise in in the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration of Fura-2 loaded B cells. Our data indicate that B cells express neither mAR nor mER on their surfaces, in contrast to other major cells of the immune system such as T cells and macrophages.

Endothelin-1 sensitivity of porcine coronary arteries is reduced by exercise training and is gender dependent

We tested the hypothesis that exercise training reduces the sensitivity of coronary smooth muscle to endothelin-1 (ET-1), with the adaptation being greater in male than in female miniature swine. The efficacy of training was similar in males and females. Cumulative ET-1 contractile responses of coronary branches and left circumflex artery were significantly shifted to the right in exercise-trained (Ex) males but not in Ex females. Analyses of the excitatory concentration causing a 50% response (EC(50)) showed a 1.7- to 2.2-fold shift in Ex males with no change in maximum tension. Nonselective blockade of K-channel activity with tetraethylammonium (TEA; 30-50 mM) significantly shifted the EC(50) to a lower concentration in both Ex males (1.25-fold) and Ex females (2.2-fold) but not in sedentary (Sed) groups. Females (combined Sed and Ex) exhibited a greater response to TEA than did combined Sed and Ex males. Changes in [(32)P]phosphatidic acid ([(32)P]PA) provided an indicator of ET-1-induced phospholipase activity. The magnitude of the [(32)P]PA response was reduced by Ex in both males and females without affecting the EC(50). It is concluded that the contractile sensitivity of coronary arteries to ET-1 is influenced by physical activity in a gender-dependent manner. It is unclear why the contractile sensitivity in females was not reduced by Ex as in the males, because Ex significantly affected responses to TEA and ET-1 stimulation of [(32)P]PA production in both males and females. A potential gender difference in K-channel function may contribute to this discrepancy.

Estrogen receptors in the cardiovascular system

Various direct effects of estradiol on arterial tissue suggest the presence of estrogen receptors (ER) in the vascular wall. The study of ER detection has made an important progress over the last 10 years with the advent and widespread use of monoclonal antibodies against the receptor protein. Using immunocytochemical methods and monoclonal antibodies, we have detected estrogen receptors in the tunica media of arteries from the reproductive tract; their concentration depends on the hormonal status. These receptors are apparently absent from saphenous veins (taken from patients undergoing surgical removal of varicose veins). We also document here results on the cardiovascular system we discuss their implications in blood vessel relaxation and cell proliferation.

Sexual dimorphism characterizes baboon myocardial androgen receptors but not myocardial estrogen and progesterone receptors

Using biochemical methods we established that estrogen receptor content and distribution and progesterone receptor content in female and male baboon myocardium did not differ between sexes. In contrast, myocardial androgen receptor distribution between cytosolic and nuclear compartments was sexually dimorphic. Female baboon myocardial androgen receptors were restricted to the cytosolic compartment, whereas male myocardial androgen receptors were distributed between the cytosolic and nuclear compartments. Using human estrogen receptor cDNA we showed that baboon aorta, myocardium and uterus contain a 6.3 kb estrogen receptor transcript. Analyses performed with human progesterone receptor cDNA established that baboon aorta and uterus contain an 8 kb progesterone receptor transcript; however, progesterone receptor transcripts were not demonstrable in baboon myocardial RNA preparations. Because relative hybridization signal intensity reflected known uterine and aortic progesterone receptor content, failure to detect progesterone receptor transcripts in myocardial preparations may reflect sensitivity limitations and the fact that aortic progesterone receptor content is 5-fold greater than that of myocardium. Immunocytochemical analyses demonstrated that baboon myocardial progesterone receptors were present in greater than 25% of myocytes and generally absent from other myocardial cells. Our studies establish that: (1) gonadal steroid hormone receptor gene transcription occurs in cells of the baboon cardiovasculature, (2) these steroid hormone receptors may be physiologically functional, and (3) gonadal steroid hormone receptors may be restricted to specialized cells of the cardiovasculature.