Female mice are more susceptible to the development of allergic airway inflammation than male mice

Summary Background In humans the prevalence of asthma is higher among females than among males after puberty. The reason for this phenomenon is not clear. Objective We tested the hypothesis that female mice are more susceptible to the development of allergic asthma than male mice and studied allergi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and experimental allergy 2005-11, Vol.35 (11), p.1496-1503
Main Authors: Melgert, B. N., Postma, D. S., Kuipers, I., Geerlings, M., Luinge, M. A., van der Strate, B. W. A., Kerstjens, H. A. M., Timens, W., Hylkema, M. N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
airway hyper-responsiveness
Allergic diseases
allergy
Animals
asthma
Asthma - immunology
Asthma - pathology
B-Lymphocytes - immunology
Biological and medical sciences
Bronchial Provocation Tests
Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid - immunology
CD4 Antigens - immunology
Chemokine CCL5 - analysis
eosinophils
Eosinophils - immunology
Female
females
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
gender
IgE
Immunoglobulin E - analysis
Immunopathology
Interleukins - analysis
Lung - immunology
Lung - pathology
Male
Medical sciences
Methacholine Chloride - immunology
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
ovalbumin
Ovalbumin - immunology
Receptors, Interleukin-2 - immunology
regulatory T cells
Sex Factors
sex hormones
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
Th2 Cells - immunology
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Summary:Summary Background In humans the prevalence of asthma is higher among females than among males after puberty. The reason for this phenomenon is not clear. Objective We tested the hypothesis that female mice are more susceptible to the development of allergic asthma than male mice and studied allergic immune responses in the lung. Methods We compared allergic airway inflammation, i.e. methacholine (MCh) responsiveness, serum IgE, and cytokines, and the number of the different leucocytes in lungs of male and female BALB/c mice, twice‐sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA) and subsequently challenged with OVA (OVA‐mice) or phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS‐mice) aerosols on days 24–26, 30, and 31. Results OVA challenge significantly increased MCh responsiveness, numbers of eosinophils, CD4+ T cells, CD4+/CD25+ T cells, B cells, and levels of Thelper (Th)2 cytokines, total, and OVA‐specific IgE. There was, however, also an effect of gender, with female mice responding to OVA challenges with higher numbers of eosinophils, CD4+ T cells, B cells, and levels of IL‐4, IL‐13, IFN‐γ, total, and OVA‐specific IgE than male mice. In contrast, female PBS‐mice had significantly lower percentages of regulatory CD4+/CD25+ T cells than males (females 4.2±0.2% vs. males 5.3±0.1% of CD4+ T cells, P
ISSN:0954-7894
1365-2222
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2222.2005.02362.x