title: Sex hormones and susceptibility of the rat to paracoccidioidomycosis.
abstract: The development of intraperitoneal paracoccidioidomycosis was studied in groups of female and male rats: a) Under normal conditions (intacts), b) After castration and c) After castration but submitted to a treatment with, respectively, testosterone and estradiol. The criterion of susceptibility to infection was based on: 1) Spontaneous mortality of the animals and 2) Number of metastatic pulmonary lesions. The results showed that: the unique deaths and the more severe pulmonary lesions were found among the intact females, representing the animals most susceptible to the infection in these experiments; the intact females showed more numerous lesions than the castrated; the intact males had less lesions than the castrated, and than those castrated which were treated with estradiol.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002369:Castration; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010229:Paracoccidioidomycosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones