Postischemic cerebral blood flow recovery in the female: Effect of 17β-estradiol

Abstract

Female reproductive hormones are considered to be protective agents in atherosclerotic vascular disease and stroke. The present study determined if there are unique cerebrovascular responses in female animals to global cerebral ischemia and if 17β-estradiol is important to postischemic outcome in brain. Three groups of anesthetized, sexually mature rabbits were treated with normotensive four-vessel occlusion (6 min) and 3 h of reperfusion: females chronically instrumented with 17β-estradiol implants (EFEM; n = 8, plasma estradiol level = 365 ± 48 pg/ml), untreated females (FEM; n = 8, estradiol = 13 ± 3 pg/ml), and untreated males (M; n = 8, estradiol