Left ventricular hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality in
patients with hypertensive heart disease. Cardiac hypertrophy, associated with increased
cardiac fibrosis and myocardial relaxation impairment, shows gender-based differences with
significantly higher mortality in men. The role of estrogen in the pathogenesis of this process
is poorly understood. After our previous demonstration that cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts
contain functional estrogen receptors, we therefore investigated: 1) the influence of different …