Women have the same testosterone as found in men, but less than one-tenth as much, Reckelhoff said. Testosterone also is present in some hormone replacement drugs. The only reason testosterone is included in that cocktail is to increase women's libido. We think testosterone is working through some hormonal system, such as the intra-renal hormone system, to cause oxidative stress. The hormone itself is called angiotensin II, which also causes oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress leads to constriction of the blood vessels and higher blood pressure.
She clearly considers the rats a part of her team. She occasionally lets the rats out of their cages to crawl around her shoulders or ogle her work. What they are discovering, together, might significantly help curtail the incidence of high blood pressure in post-menopausal women some day. If this hypothesis is correct, one solution for post-menopausal women who take estrogen is to switch to hormone replacement drugs without testosterone. For more information, keep watching Reckelhoff's results in the years to come.