Expression of estrogen receptor sub-types α and β in acute and chronic cardiac allograft vasculopathy

Characterization of the ERβ – /–mouse heart

“…Some studies report that ER␤ cannot be detected in the adult heart (12), whereas in others ER␤ is abundant in the nucleus (13)(14)(15)(16), and in one study ER␤ was exclusively mitochondrial (17). These diverse results obtained in different laboratories could be due to differences in antibody specificity.…”

Structure–function relationship of estrogen receptor α and β: Impact on human health

“…Neonatal cardiomyocytes in culture express both ERa and ERb in their nuclei but these receptors are not detectable until E2 is added to the culture medium (Grohe et al, 1997). Some studies have reported that ERb could not be detected in the adult heart (Jankowski et al, 2001) while in others, ERb is abundant in the nucleus (Savolainen et al, 2001;, and in one study ERb was exclusively mitochondrial . In other studies, either ERa or ERb was not detected in the cardiac muscle of mice with RT-PCR, Western blotting or by immunohistochemistry (Imamov et al, 2005;Koehler et al, 2005).…”

Estrogen regulates insulin-like growth factor 1, platelet-derived growth factor A and B, and their receptors in the vascular wall

“…Two estrogen receptors (ER␣ and ER␤) with different expression patterns have been identified. We and others have demonstrated that, both after denudation injury (14) and in acute as well as chronic allograft rejection (15) in rats, ER␤ mRNA and proteins are strongly up-regulated after vascular injury, colocalizing with the activated SMCs in the neointima and less in the media and also with inflammatory cells in the allograft, and that preferential targeting to ER␤ provides a dose-dependent vasculoprotective effect without the uterotrophic effects of estrogen. However, the mechanisms of estrogen action are still incompletely known.…”