Nicole Wolter

Atherosclerosis and hypertension are early manifestations of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death. Though CVD mortality has decreased in men over the past few decades, CVD mortality in women has remained stagnant. Recent work in the Jaffe lab has discovered that mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) activity contributes to both atherosclerosis and microvascular dysfunction differentially in males and females, with the estrogen receptor coordinately regulating microvascular function with MR in females. My thesis seeks to elucidate the role of MR and estrogen receptor in mediating sex differences in atherosclerosis and microvascular function in the setting of hyperlipidemia and obesity.