{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/114039"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/114039","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Sex Differences in Cardiac Electrophysiology","abstract":"In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery.","abstract_html":"In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Depman, Madeline Jay"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Translational Biology, Medicine and Health","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Poelzing, Steven"],"committee_members":["Gourdie, Robert G.","Joseph, Mark","Huckle, William R."],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09-10","date_published":"2021-09-10","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:41Z","subjects":["sex differences","cardiac electrophysiology"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:32477"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:32477","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/114039","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Poelzing, Steven"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Gourdie, Robert G.","Joseph, Mark","Huckle, William R."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Translational Biology, Medicine and Health"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Depman, Madeline Jay"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-03-05T07:00:07Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-03-05T07:00:07Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-09-10"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["sex differences","cardiac electrophysiology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:32477"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/114039"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Sex Differences in Cardiac Electrophysiology"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Poelzing, Steven"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Gourdie, Robert G.","Joseph, Mark","Huckle, William R."],"dc:contributor.department":["Translational Biology, Medicine and Health"],"dc:creator":["Depman, Madeline Jay"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-03-05T07:00:07Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-03-05T07:00:07Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-09-10"],"dc:description.abstract":["In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:32477"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/114039"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["sex differences","cardiac electrophysiology"],"dc:title":["Sex Differences in Cardiac Electrophysiology"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:41Z"}