Mechanisms of impaired cerebral hemodynamics and memory resilience differ by sex: A role for mineralocorticoid receptors in VCID

In spontaneously hypertensive rats, mineralocorticoid receptor signaling is linked to sex- and region-dependent hypoperfusion, with females showing more pervasive CA1 and mPFC flow deficits than males.

• Why it matters: Chronic hypertension is a major risk for VCID, but how aldosterone/MR pathways impair cerebral hemodynamics and memory resilience across sexes and brain regions remains unclear.
• What they did: Using SHR in both sexes, the study tested eplerenone’s effects on absolute brain blood flow and oxygenation in CA1 of dorsal hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex, alongside long-term and spatial working memory.
• The result: Eplerenone restored perfusion in females in both mPFC and hippocampus and improved working memory, but it did not protect hippocampal-dependent memory; it showed no effect in male SHR.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.