 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- When it comes to stem cells, females may have the advantage.
New research out of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh shows stem cells taken from females are better at regenerating skeletal muscle in mice. Female stem cells outperformed male stem cells regardless of the sex of the animal receiving the transplant.
Text Continues Below
The study was conducted in a mouse model of Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD), a disease that strikes boys and is characterized by a lack of dystrophin, a protein responsible for giving structure to muscle cells. The researchers used stem cells to deliver the missing protein to the muscles of mice engineered to have the condition.
Forty percent of the female stem cell populations produced a regeneration index of more than 200, compared to just 10 percent of the male stem cell populations.
The investigators believe these results show female and male stem cells have major differences that may impact their ability to treat diseases like DMD. They write, "These findings should persuade researchers to report cell sex, which is a largely unexplored variable, and consider the implications of relying on cells of one sex."
Why would female stem cells perform better? The researchers cite the male stem cells' greater likelihood to differentiate after exposure to oxidative stress, which could be making them less potent than the female stem cells.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Journal of Cell Biology, published online April 9, 2007
|
.gif)
