Abstract
Contradictory findings of estrogen supplementation in cardiac disease highlight the need to investigate the involvement of estrogen in the progression of heart failure in an animal model that lacks traditional comorbidities. Heart failure was induced by aortic constriction (AC) in female guinea pigs. Selected AC animals were ovariectomized (ACOV), and a group of these received 17β-estradiol supplementation (ACOV+E). One hundred-fifty days post-AC surgery, left-ventricular myocytes were isolated, and their electrophysiology and Ca2+ and Na+ regulation were examined. Long-term absence of ovarian hormones exacerbates the decline in cardiac function during the progression to heart failure. Estrogen supplementation reverses these aggravating effects.