| Popis: |
Sexual dimorphism is defined as the existing differences between individuals of different genders in features other than gender itself. In addition to well described differences in physical traits, reproductive organs, or hormones the term also indicates the differences which are present in cognition, immunity, and the biological responses to various medical conditions. Regarding sexual dimorphism in the placenta; although it is known that male foetuses have more severe cases of preeclampsia and cases of gestational diabetes mellitus, on the other hand, female foetuses suffer more HIV infections transmitted from the mother, however, the detailed mechanisms underlying to explain these intriguing facts are unknown. Hofbauer cells are immune cells located in the placenta that are of fetal origin and can be identified from an early stage of pregnancy - only after 18 days of gestation. They are known to function as macrophages including phagocytosis, antigen presentation, angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, and also known to be involved in several medical conditions during pregnancy such as villitis of unknown etiology and preeclampsia. In spite of their important roles, research focused on Hofbauer cells has been limited, largely due to difficulties in their isolation. I successfully established a new methodology to isolate Hofbauer cells from whole term placenta with high yield and purity and subjected Hofbauer cells isolated from 6 normal male placentae and 6 normal female placentae to mass spectrometry analysis. From the result of spectrometry analysis, 86 out of 5426 proteins were found to be significantly differentially expressed between male and female placentae (p Furthermore, I extracted RNAs from the cells that were subjected to proteomics and next-generation sequencing was performed. Of 6844 included transcripts, 26 transcripts were significantly up-regulated in male HBCs samples and 23 transcripts were significantly up-regulated in female HBCs samples (adjusted p value In summary, HBCs exhibit significant differences in proteomic and genetic signature in male and female placentae. It is likely these differences confer functional alterations in immune cell function which may impact a number of critical functions. |
