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(Circulation Research. 2001;89:378.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Taking the Gender Gap to Heart

Barry London

From the Cardiovascular Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Correspondence to Barry London, MD, PhD, Cardiovascular Institute, University of Pittsburgh, BST 1744, 200 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. E-mail londonb@msx.upmc.edu

Key Words: K⁺ channel • gender • mouse • heart • transgenic models

For centuries, poets, philosophers, and writers have described differences between the male and female heart.¹ During the last several decades, many traditional male/female stereotypes have been questioned in the light of our expanding scientific knowledge.² Although progress has been made toward a more gender-neutral society, the "gender gap" still exists. At the heart of the complex issues involved, an unanswered fundamental question remains: To what extent are perceived gender differences real, and what are their implications?

Male/female differences in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology have long been appreciated. Premenopausal women have a lower incidence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, due at least in part to the protective effects of estrogen.³ Male and female hearts also differ electrophysiologically. Women have a higher incidence of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardias, whereas men account for most symptomatic cases of Brugada syndrome, an autosomal dominant form of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.^4,5 Women have longer QT intervals than men and are at greater risks for torsade de pointes from congenital and acquired long-QT syndrome.^6–8 Surprisingly, women may have a lower overall incidence of sudden cardiac death, even correcting for the difference in coronary artery disease.⁹ The molecular basis of these gender differences is largely unknown.

In this issue of Circulation Research, Dr Fiset and colleagues report for the first time on gender differences in the repolarizing K⁺ currents of mouse ventricular myocytes.¹⁰ Female hearts have decreased expression of Kv1.5 at both the RNA and protein levels compared with males. As a result, myocytes isolated from female hearts . . . [Full Text of this Article]