Is gender crucial for cardiovascular adjustments induced by exercise training in female spontaneously hypertensive rats?

Evidence of mild hypertension in women and female rats and our preliminary observation showing that training is not effective to reduce pressure in female as it does in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) prompt us to investigate the effects of gender on hemodynamic pattern and microcirculatory changes induced by exercise training. Female SHR and normotensive controls (Wistar-Kyoto rats) were submitted to training (55% VO(2) peak; 3 months) or kept sedentary and instrumented for pressure and hindlimb flow measurements at rest and during exercise. Heart, kidney, and skeletal muscles (locomotor/nonlocomotor) were processed for morphometric analysis of arterioles, capillaries, and venules.