The Impact Of Estrogen Loss And High Fat Diet On The Presence And Appearance Of Cardiac Hypertrophy
Abstract
Examining the Effects of a High Fat Diet Combined with Prolonged Estrogen Loss on Myocardial Hypertrophy Drue Holzen, Lydia Bridgeforth, Zoe Chapman, Aashi Vora, Chukwufumnanya Ruth Aninyei, Cerrone Foster, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennessee State University Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide affecting your heart and blood vessels causing heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmias. Data show that 1 in 5 women will die from heart disease and this is increased by hormonal changes that occur during menopause. Estrogen is known to be cardioprotective, which is lost after menopause. Other CVD risks following menopause includes high lipid and cholesterol levels which increases the level of plaque disposition in the arteries and risks for CVD. One common pathology from this is cardiac hypertrophy resulting in enlargement of heart muscle caused by chronic stress. A high fat diet could contribute to this process by plaque, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction which increases the cardiac workload, leading to hypertrophy. Four treatment groups were used in this study: SHAM (control), ovariectomized (OVX), SHAM + HFD, and OVX + HFD. The animals were ovariectomized at 2.5 months and were fed a HFD at 20 months post OVX for 4 months aligning with their respective group and weighed every two weeks. Our hypothesis is that chronic consumption of a high fat diet accelerates age related cardiac hypertrophy in aged, ovariectomized female mice compared to age matched, ovariectomized controls on a standard diet. At 24 months, tissue including the heart, lung, pancreas, ovaries were collected. The heart tissue was sectioned, and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) staining was performed, in order to quantitate the myocyte cross sectional area as an indicator of hypertrophy. Overall, this study addresses a gap of studying changes to cardiac hypertrophy in post-menopausal women.
Start Time
15-4-2026 9:00 AM
End Time
15-4-2026 10:00 AM
Room Number
272
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Subtype
Research-in-Progress
Presentation Category
Science, Technology, and Engineering
Faculty Mentor
Foster Cerrone
The Impact Of Estrogen Loss And High Fat Diet On The Presence And Appearance Of Cardiac Hypertrophy
272
Examining the Effects of a High Fat Diet Combined with Prolonged Estrogen Loss on Myocardial Hypertrophy Drue Holzen, Lydia Bridgeforth, Zoe Chapman, Aashi Vora, Chukwufumnanya Ruth Aninyei, Cerrone Foster, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennessee State University Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide affecting your heart and blood vessels causing heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmias. Data show that 1 in 5 women will die from heart disease and this is increased by hormonal changes that occur during menopause. Estrogen is known to be cardioprotective, which is lost after menopause. Other CVD risks following menopause includes high lipid and cholesterol levels which increases the level of plaque disposition in the arteries and risks for CVD. One common pathology from this is cardiac hypertrophy resulting in enlargement of heart muscle caused by chronic stress. A high fat diet could contribute to this process by plaque, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction which increases the cardiac workload, leading to hypertrophy. Four treatment groups were used in this study: SHAM (control), ovariectomized (OVX), SHAM + HFD, and OVX + HFD. The animals were ovariectomized at 2.5 months and were fed a HFD at 20 months post OVX for 4 months aligning with their respective group and weighed every two weeks. Our hypothesis is that chronic consumption of a high fat diet accelerates age related cardiac hypertrophy in aged, ovariectomized female mice compared to age matched, ovariectomized controls on a standard diet. At 24 months, tissue including the heart, lung, pancreas, ovaries were collected. The heart tissue was sectioned, and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) staining was performed, in order to quantitate the myocyte cross sectional area as an indicator of hypertrophy. Overall, this study addresses a gap of studying changes to cardiac hypertrophy in post-menopausal women.
