Sex Difference in Cardioprotection against Acute Myocardial Infarction in MAO-B Knockout Mice In Vivo

The cardiomyocyte-specific knockout (KO) of monoamine oxidase (MAO)-B, an enzyme involved in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reduced myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in vitro. Because sex hormones have a strong impact on MAO metabolic pathways, we analyzed the myocardial infarct size (IS) following I/R in female and male MAO-B KO mice in vivo. Method and Results: To induce the deletion of MAO-B, MAO-B KO mice (Myh6 Cre+/MAO-B(fl/fl)) and wild-type (WT, Cre-negative MAO-B(fl/fl) littermates) were fed with tamoxifen for 2 weeks followed by 10 weeks of normal mice chow. Myocardial infarction (assessed by TTC staining and expressed as a percentage of the area at risk as determined by Evans blue staining)) was induced by 45 min coronary occlusion followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Results: The mortality following I/R was higher in male compared to female mice, with the lowest mortality found in MAO-B KO female mice. IS was significantly higher in male WT mice compared to female WT mice. MAO-B KO reduced IS in male mice but had no further impact on IS in female MAO-B KO mice. Interestingly, there was no difference in the plasma estradiol levels among the groups. Conclusion: The cardiomyocyte-specific knockout of MAO-B protects male mice against acute myocardial infarction but had no effect on the infarct size in female mice.