QP is pleased to share the publication of research examining sex-specific differences in cerebrovascular function and subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH)-induced injury. The study was conducted alongside QP’s research partners at the Centre for Microvascular Medicine (CMM) at the University of Toronto.

Previous work by the CMM demonstrates that hemorrhagic strokes cause more injury when they occur at night, compared to hemorrhagic strokes that occur during waking hours. The team discovered that cerebral blood vessel constriction in male mice is rhythmic over the 24h circadian cycle. If SAH occurs when cerebral arteries are more constricted, the resulting brain damage is more pronounced. The authors hypothesized that cerebral arteries in males and females function differently and have a distinct stroke-induced injury pattern.  

Key Findings

Results showed that cerebral arteries in female mice behave differently compared to males, as does the time-of-day injury profile following a hemorrhagic stroke. Female sex hormones do not explain the differences between males and females and thus, the male/female differences would be expected to be present in both pre- and post-menopausal women. It is imperative to recognize that biological sex differences may impact the therapeutic efficacy of interventions targeting brain blood vessels.

Availability

The full research paper is available at The Lancet eBioMedicine.

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About the Centre for Microvascular Medicine (CMM)

The CMM is a multidisciplinary initiative to advance microvascular research, training and clinical applications with its primary node located at the University of Toronto’s Translational Biology and Engineering Program at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research. The CMM discovery program spans the biomedical continuum: from cells to animal models, translation to human tissues and ultimately clinical applications. Advancing the microvascular research field is critical to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in cardiovascular medicine.