Female kidneys are known to be more resilient to disease and injury, but a new study may help researchers better understand how to address sex-related health disparities for patients with kidney diseases. The study describes not only how sex hormones drive differences in male and female mouse kidneys, but also how lowering testosterone can 'feminize' this organ and improve its resilience.
Female kidneys are known to be more resilient to disease and injury, but males need not despair. A new USC Stem Cell-led study published indescribes not only how sex hormones drive differences in male and female mouse kidneys, but also how lowering testosterone can"feminize" this organ and improve its resilience.
Because female kidneys tend to fare better in the face of disease or injury, the researchers were interested how the gene activity of kidneys becomes"feminized" or"masculinized" -- and testosterone appeared to be the biggest culprit. To re-masculinize the kidneys of the castrated males, the researchers only needed to inject testosterone. Similarly, testosterone injection masculinized the kidneys of females who had their ovaries removed before puberty.The scientists performed some similar experiments with mouse livers. Although this organ also displays sex-related differences, the hormones and underlying factors driving these differences are very different than those at play in the kidney.
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