Wisniewska A, Kus K, Toton-Zuranska J, Jawien J, Olszanecki R and Korbut R
The aim of the study was to investigate differences between sexes in time – dependent development of atherosclerosis in apoE & eNOS – double knockout mice. At four time points, groups of female and male mice were sacrificed and the size of atherosclerosis was measured by “cross section”. At the age of 2 months, there was no difference between males and females. However, at the age of 4 months, the atherosclerosis was significantly bigger in females than in males (55,616 ± 4,622 μm2 vs. 37,181 ± 4,142 μm2; p<0.05). At the age of 6 months, the differences were even more pronounced (314,465 ± 19,351 μm2 vs. 108,277 ± 24,549 μm2; p<0.001). The same tendency was present at the age of 12 months (488,356 ± 49,823 μm2 vs. 201,646 ± 43,886 μm2; p<0.001). We describe for the first time the development of atherosclerosis in both sexes of apoE & eNOS – double knockout mice, proving that as early as at age of 16 weeks, a substantial difference in the size of atherosclerosis is noted between females and males, in favour of the females. This difference becomes more significant with the age of mice. The possible mechanisms responsible for such differences require further investigation.