Rheumatoid factor induction in the mouse: sex differences and the effect of the sex steroids.
Female CBA mice produced a significantly higher plasma rheumatoid factor (RF) response to Salmonella typhosa lipopolysaccharide than did male mice. The peak level in females was observed on day 5-6 after injection and in males on day 7-8. Elevated RF levels continued to be detected more than 30 days later. A second injection of LPS, 38 days after the first, to assess the secondary response, had no more than an additive effect on plasma RF concentration, although the day of peak response was earlier by two days in both sexes. Administration of oestradiol-17 beta by Silastic implant brought forward the day of peak response by two days in both sexes although it reduced its amplitude considerably. Testosterone had little effect on the peak concentrations achieved in both sexes, but did produce a slower decay in plasma RF level. This investigation indicates that the sex hormones can influence the response to LPS, a polyclonal B cell activator. This may have implications for the sex differences seen in autoimmune diseases.
McCruden
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Immunology Division, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K.
Stimson
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WH
D000818:Animals; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000494:pharmacology; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012485:Salmonella typhi / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors
D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor