title: Gender differences in response to cold pressor test assessed with velocity-encoded cardiovascular magnetic resonance of the coronary sinus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gender-specific differences in cardiovascular risk are well known, and current evidence supports an existing role of endothelium in these differences. The purpose of this study was to assess non invasively coronary endothelial function in male and female young volunteers by myocardial blood flow (MBF) measurement using coronary sinus (CS) flow quantification by velocity encoded cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) at rest and during cold pressor test (CPT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four healthy volunteers (12 men, 12 women) underwent CMR in a 3 Tesla MR imager. Coronary sinus flow was measured at rest and during CPT using non breath-hold velocity encoded phase contrast cine-CMR. Myocardial function and morphology were acquired using a cine steady-state free precession sequence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, mean MBF was 0.63 ± 0.23 mL·g⁻¹·min⁻¹ in men and 0.79 ± 0.21 mL·g⁻¹·min⁻¹ in women. During CPT, the rate pressure product in men significantly increased by 49 ± 36% (p < 0.0001) and in women by 52 ± 22% (p < 0.0001). MBF increased significantly in both men and women by 0.22 ± 0.19 mL·g⁻¹·min⁻¹ (p = 0.0022) and by 0.73 ± 0.43 mL·g⁻¹·min⁻¹ (p = 0.0001), respectively. The increase in MBF was significantly higher in women than in men (p = 0.0012).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CMR coronary sinus flow quantification for measuring myocardial blood flow revealed a higher response of MBF to CPT in women than in men. This finding may reflect gender differences in endothelial-dependent vasodilatation in these young subjects. This non invasive rest/stress protocol may become helpful to study endothelial function in normal physiology and in physiopathology.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Résonance Magnétique Biologique et Médicale, UMR 6612 CNRS, Université de Méditerranée, Faculté de Médecine, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Pierre-Julien
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Moro
authors.forename: Antonin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flavian
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacquier
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kober
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quilici
authors.forename: Bénédicte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaborit
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bonnet
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moulin
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cozzone
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D054326:Coronary Sinus / Q000502:physiology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007101:Immersion; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008297:Male; D055414:Myocardial Perfusion Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left; D055815:Young Adult