The Influence of Sex and Age on Myocardial Gene Expression in the Left Ventricle and Left Atrium of both Young and Adult Healthy Male and Female Cats

Differences in the development and progression of cardiac diseases between females and males have been reported in humans and cats. However, how sex and age influence variation in cardiac gene expression in healthy feline hearts has not been investigated. We analyzed left ventricle (LV) and left atrium (LA) myocardial tissue samples from young and adult cats and hypothesized that mRNA profiles in both chambers would exhibit sex and age-specific differences. The aims were to compare RNA-sequencing data between 1) young female and male hearts and 2) adult female and male hearts. Across ages, female LV and LA samples exhibited activation of pathways and genes related to immune regulation, development and repair. Conversely, male LV and LA samples displayed enrichment in pathways and genes linked to inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. The findings provide a better baseline understanding of how sex and age influence healthy feline hearts from a transcriptomic perspective.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Guelph

Author dc:creator

• Allan, Megan

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Fonfara, Sonja
• Raheb, Shari

• bioinformatics
• cardiology
• cats
• gene expression
• RNA sequencing

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10214/29442

OAI record oai:identifier

https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Aatrium.lib.uoguelph.ca%3A10214%2F29442