Myocytes from female rats exhibited less ischemia and reperfusion injury than cells from males.

<p>The protocol is as described in the legends to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0038425#pone-0038425-g001" target="_blank">Figures 1</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0038425#pone-0038425-g002" target="_blank">2</a>. <b>A.</b> Mean magnitudes of contractions in male (filled squares) and female (filled circles) myocytes exposed to ischemia and reperfusion. <b>B.</b> Mean peak Ca²⁺ transients recorded from male and female myocytes at 5 minute intervals throughout exposure to ischemia and reperfusion. Average levels of diastolic Ca²⁺ (<b>C</b>) and resting myocyte length (<b>D</b>) recorded throughout the experimental protocol in cells from males and females. In all cases, data were normalized to values recorded after 15 minutes of stimulation. <b>E.</b> Survival curves illustrating the viability of male (dashed line) and female (solid line) cells at 5 minute intervals throughout the experimental protocol. The * denotes significantly different from young adult male value (p<0.05; n = 12 male cells and 10 female cells).