TY  -  JOUR
AU  -  Nagvenkar, Sonia
AU  -  Episcopio, Donna
AU  -  Landazuri, Joselyn
AU  -  Javdan, Mohammad
AU  -  Entezari, Maria
AU  -  Lockshin, Richard A
AU  -  Zakeri, Zahra
T1  -  Sexual dimorphism in cell behaviour and sensitivity to death of primary macrophages
PY  -  2018
Y1  -  2018-10-01
DO  -  10.1723/3091.30834
JO  -  The Italian Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine
JA  -  Ital J Gender-Specific Med
VL  -  4
IS  -  4
SP  -  136
EP  -  141
PB  -  Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore
SN  -  2612-3487
Y2  -  2026/09/20
UR  -  http://dx.doi.org/10.1723/3091.30834
N2  -  Summary. Introduction. Although males differ from females in their responses to viral and bacterial infections, whether cells of the immune system manifest intrinsic sex differences has not been examined. We therefore investigated the sex differences in viability of peritoneal macrophages when they were exposed to influenza A virus (WSN/33) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and evaluated the impact of androgens and estrogens on their responses. Methods. We extracted mouse peritoneal macrophages from male and female mice, exposed them to influenza A virus or bacterial lipopolysaccharides, measured cell death by trypan blue exclusion, and also assessed the impact of sex steroids on the ability of the macrophages to resist the virus. Results. Peritoneal macrophages differed by sex in their response to both influenza A virus and to LPS, with influenza killing 100% of male cells within 24 h but leaving approximately 15% of the female cells viable. Pretreatment with sex hormones, 17β-estradiol and testosterone, reduced cell death in both genders but did not alter the dimorphism. Discussion. We conclude that the sex-dependent response of macrophages to viral and bacterial infections derives from sex chromosomes rather than sex hormones. This sexual dimorphism should be taken into account for treatment of both viral and bacterial infections.
ER  -