Female murine airway epithelium is more susceptible to cigarette smoke-induced injury.
Our study discusses the importance of studying sex-specific differences in the response of the airway epithelium to chronic injury. It focuses on tracheal epithelial cells from male and female mice exposed to chronic cigarette smoke and found evidence of sex-specific differences in gene expression and epithelial plasticity. Understanding these differences could lead to more effective personalized treatments for respiratory diseases. Overall design: Mice tracheal epithelial cells (mTECs) from 7– to 8 – week old male and female FVB/NJ mice were isolated, expanded, and differentiated on an air-liquid interface (ALI) for 10 to 14 days. The differentiated epithelium was exposed to cigarette smoke or humidified air for ten days. Phenotypic parameters of epithelial plasticity such as transepithelial electrical resistance, paracellular permeability, ciliary beat frequency, and cellular velocity were quantified. Total RNA was isolated and sequenced on NovaSeq S4 6000 Illumina platform. Quality control and data management were performed, including trimming reads and aligning them to the reference mouse genome. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed for biological pathways by g: Profiler.