Defining the distinct and progressive sex differences of a novel experimental model of pure diastolic dysfunction

Women and men both suffer from heart failure. The signs, symptoms, causes and strategies for treating heart failure in women and men are different. We must better understand heart failure distinctly in women and men to optimally treat all patients. Here we have discovered an important new role for cells and hormones to maintain the heart, and specifically how the heart relaxes. Without these important factors, the heart is impaired and this pattern of failure is different in females compared to males. We have discovered the preliminary causes of this failure and seek to use this information to improve patient health. Our project seeks to define the cells and hormones that communicate and how they maintain the structure of the heart. This proposal will create fundamental new knowledge about female and male hearts are different and may need to be treated differently when failing. We have also learned how to change the way these new pathways of communication and seek to test new therapeutic targets to improve heart function.