Cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts contain functional estrogen receptors

FEBS Letters

Karas, Richard H.²  Stimpel, Michael³  Neyses, Ludwig¹  Vetter, Hans³  Grohé, Christian³  Kahlert, Stefan³  Löbbert, Kerstin³ 

[1] Department of Medicine, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany;Molecular Cardiology Research Center, New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA;Medizinische Univ.-Poliklinik, University of Bonn, Wilhelmstr. 35–37, 53111 Bonn, Germany

关键词: Cardiomyocyte;    Estrogen receptor α;    Estrogen receptor β;    Gene expression;    Cardiac fibroblast;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(97)01179-4

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Gender-based differences found in cardiovascular diseases raise the possibility that estrogen may have direct effects on cardiac tissue. Therefore we investigated whether cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts express functional estrogen receptors. Immunofluorescence demonstrated estrogen receptor protein expression in both female and male rat cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts. Nuclear translocation of the estrogen receptor protein was observed after stimulation of cardiomyocytes with 17β-estradiol (E₂). Cells transfected with an estrogen-responsive reporter plasmid showed that treatment with E₂ induced a significant increase in reporter activity. Furthermore, E₂ induced a significant increase in expression of the estrogen receptors α and β, progesterone receptor and connexin 43 in cardiac myocytes. Cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts contain functional estrogen receptors and estrogen regulates expression of specific cardiac genes. These data suggest that gender-based differences in cardiac diseases may in part be due to direct effects of estrogen on the heart.

【 授权许可】

Unknown