Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Biology
Date of Award
5-2026
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Cerrone Foster
Committee Members
Anoop Aruagiri, Sanjay Singh
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and shows important sex differences in incidence and progression. Premenopausal women are relatively protected compared to age-matched men, but this protection declines after menopause, suggesting a key role for estrogen. We hypothesized that prolonged estrogen loss exacerbates cardiac dysfunction under sympathetic stimulation, promoting adverse remodeling. To test this, seven-month post-ovariectomized and sham-operated female mice were treated with isoproterenol (400 μg/kg/hour) for 7 days to model heart failure. Cardiac function was assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. Cardiac hypertrophy, apoptosis, and fibrosis were evaluated using histological staining of heart sections. Prolonged estrogen loss increased mortality by 45% following sympathetic stimulation. Although fractional shortening increased and ejection fraction showed no significant differences, combined estrogen loss and heart failure significantly increased fibrosis, hypertrophy, and apoptosis. These findings demonstrate that prolonged estrogen loss reduces survival and exacerbates pathological cardiac remodeling under chronic sympathetic stress.
Document Type
Thesis - embargo
Recommended Citation
Sosebee, Sarah, "The Impact of Prolonged Estrogen Loss on the Sympathetic Response and Cardiac Remodeling Following Heart Failure" (2026). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4705. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4705
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
