Estrogen and Mitochondria: A New Paradigm for Vascular Protection?

Estrogen alters oxidative phosphorylation by increasing levels and activities of key enzymes. Female ovariectomized (OVX) rats were treated in vivo with estrogen for three weeks (OE). Mitochondria were isolated from cerebral vessels and complex IV subunit I (A; encoded by mitochondrial genome) and subunit IV (B; encoded by nuclear genome) were probed by Western blot. Enzyme activities of citrate synthase (C) and complex IV (D) are also shown. Mean data are expressed as fold difference vs OVX. *p≤0.05. Adapted from (11) by permission of ASPET.