Breaking the Cycle: Estrous Variation Does Not Require Increased Sample Size in the Study of Female Rats.

ABSTRACT: Despite the striking differences between male and female physiology, female physiology is understudied. In response, the National Institutes of Health is promulgating new policies to increase the use of female organisms in preclinical research. Females are commonly believed to have greater variability than males because of the estrous cycle, but recent studies call this belief into question. Effects of estrous cycling on mean arterial pressure were assessed in female Dahl S rats using telemetry and vaginal cytometry and found that estrous cycling did not affect mean arterial pressure magnitude or variance. Data from the PhysGen arm of the Program for Genomic Applications was used to compare male and female variance and coefficient of variation in 142 heart, lung, vascular, kidney, and bloo

SUBMITTER: Dayton A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5104284 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature