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Effects Of Pregnancy And Progesterone On Atrial Fibrillation, Heloisa M. Rutigliano

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Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrythmia in adults with likely sex-specific risk factors. Female sex hormones may be important in modulating risk for atrial fibrillation. We hypothesize that pregnancy and progesterone (P4), a hormone found in high levels during pregnancy with abrupt withdrawal immediately after parturition, modulates AF susceptibility in female goats. Cardiac specific TGF-?1 transgenic female goats and age-matched wild-type (WT) female goats were utilized. Pacemakers were implanted in all animals for continuous arrhythmia monitoring and AF inducibility. AF inducibility was evaluated using 5 separate 10 s bursts of atrial pacing (160 - 200 ms). In …