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Infection and Immunity, May 2001, p. 2865-2871, Vol. 69, No. 5
Department of
Microbiology1 and Department of
Comparative Medicine,3 University of Alabama,
Birmingham, Alabama; Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis,
Indiana2; and Department of Molecular
Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science
Center, Fort Worth, Texas4
Received 6 November 2000/Returned for modification 19 January
2001/Accepted 24 January 2001
Gender is a significant factor in determining the susceptibility to
and severity of pulmonary diseases in both humans and animals. Murine
respiratory mycoplasmosis (MRM), due to Mycoplasma pulmonis
infection, is an excellent animal model for evaluation of the role of
various host factors on the development of acute or chronic
inflammatory lung diseases. MRM has many similarities to mycoplasma
respiratory disease in humans. The purpose of the present study was to
determine whether gender has a significant impact on lung disease due
to M. pulmonis infection in mice. It was demonstrated that
male mice consistently developed more severe disease in the lung
parenchyma than did female mice. There was no gender difference in
disease severity along the airways or any difference in mycoplasma
numbers in lungs of male and female mice. Furthermore, surgical removal
of reproductive organs reduced the severity of mycoplasma disease and
the numbers of mycoplasma organisms recovered from lungs. Thus, gender
plays a significant role in determining the severity of M. pulmonis disease. In fact, the gender of the host was a major
factor in determining whether an acute or chronic inflammatory lung
disease developed after infection with M. pulmonis.
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.5.2865-2871.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Gender Is a Major Factor in Determining the
Severity of Mycoplasma Respiratory Disease in Mice
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health
Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107. E-mail:
jsimecka{at}hsc.unt.edu.
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