{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T20:23:57Z","timestamp":1791318237682,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,25]],"date-time":"2022-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1664064000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["HL134604"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HL134604"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["DK132948"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DK132948"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["R15 DK131511"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R15 DK131511"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["HL143484"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HL143484"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study was designed to connect aortic stiffness to vascular contraction in young male and female Wistar rats. We hypothesized that female animals display reduced intrinsic media-layer stiffness, which associates with improved vascular function. Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoindentation analysis was used to derive stiffness (Young\u2019s modulus) in biaxially (i.e., longitudinal and circumferential) unloaded aortic rings. Reactivity studies compatible with uniaxial loading (i.e., circumferential) were used to assess vascular responses to a selective \u03b11 adrenergic receptor agonist in the presence or absence of extracellular calcium. Elastin and collagen levels were indirectly evaluated with fluorescence microscopy and a picrosirius red staining kit, respectively. We report that male and female Wistar rats display similar AFM-derived aortic media-layer stiffness, even though female animals withstand higher aortic intima-media thickness-to-diameter ratio than males. Female animals also present reduced phenylephrine-induced aortic force development in concentration-response and time-force curves. Specifically, we observed impaired force displacement in both parts of the contraction curve (Aphasic and Atonic) in experiments conducted with and without extracellular calcium. Additionally, collagen levels were lower in female animals without significant elastin content and fragmentation changes. In summary, sex-related functional differences in isolated aortas appear to be related to dissimilarities in the dynamics of vascular reactivity and extracellular matrix composition rather than a direct response to a shift in intrinsic media-layer stiffness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms231911314","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,25]],"date-time":"2022-09-25T23:13:27Z","timestamp":1664147607000},"page":"11314","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Connecting Aortic Stiffness to Vascular Contraction: Does Sex Matter?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Amanda A.","family":"de Oliveira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernanda","family":"Priviero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Translational Research Center, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29209, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Delgado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Bio-Mechanics, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pengfei","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Bio-Mechanics, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1125-8499","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentina O.","family":"Mendoza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2637-0299","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Linxia","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Bio-Mechanics, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R. Clinton","family":"Webb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Translational Research Center, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29209, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kenia P.","family":"Nunes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2145","DOI":"10.1161\/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.968792","article-title":"Sex\/gender differences in cardiovascular disease prevention: What a difference a decade makes","volume":"124","author":"Mosca","year":"2011","journal-title":"Circulation"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1152\/physrev.00021.2015","article-title":"Mechanistic pathways of sex differences in cardiovascular disease","volume":"97","author":"Kararigas","year":"2017","journal-title":"Physiol. 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