Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.

Prion disease incubation time in mice is determined by many factors including PrP expression level, Prnp alleles, genetic background, prion strain and route of inoculation. Sex differences have been described in age of onset for vCJD and in disease duration for both vCJD and sporadic CJD and have al...

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Main Authors: Shaheen Akhtar, Adam Wenborn, Sebastian Brandner, John Collinge, Sarah E Lloyd
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0028741&type=printable
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author Shaheen Akhtar
Adam Wenborn
Sebastian Brandner
John Collinge
Sarah E Lloyd
author_facet Shaheen Akhtar
Adam Wenborn
Sebastian Brandner
John Collinge
Sarah E Lloyd
author_sort Shaheen Akhtar
collection DOAJ
description Prion disease incubation time in mice is determined by many factors including PrP expression level, Prnp alleles, genetic background, prion strain and route of inoculation. Sex differences have been described in age of onset for vCJD and in disease duration for both vCJD and sporadic CJD and have also been shown in experimental models. The sex effects reported for mouse incubation times are often contradictory and detail only one strain of mice or prions, resulting in broad generalisations and a confusing picture. To clarify the effect of sex on prion disease incubation time in mice we have compared male and female transmission data from twelve different inbred lines of mice inoculated with at least two prion strains, representing both mouse-adapted scrapie and BSE. Our data show that sex can have a highly significant difference on incubation time. However, this is limited to particular mouse and prion strain combinations. No sex differences were seen in endogenous PrP(C) levels nor in the neuropathological markers of prion disease: PrP(Sc) distribution, spongiosis, neuronal loss and gliosis. These data suggest that when comparing incubation times between experimental groups, such as testing the effects of modifier genes or therapeutics, single sex groups should be used.
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spelling doaj-art-7fbb5d71e7e543c197a15459798ef18a2025-08-20T03:10:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-01-01612e2874110.1371/journal.pone.0028741Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.Shaheen AkhtarAdam WenbornSebastian BrandnerJohn CollingeSarah E LloydPrion disease incubation time in mice is determined by many factors including PrP expression level, Prnp alleles, genetic background, prion strain and route of inoculation. Sex differences have been described in age of onset for vCJD and in disease duration for both vCJD and sporadic CJD and have also been shown in experimental models. The sex effects reported for mouse incubation times are often contradictory and detail only one strain of mice or prions, resulting in broad generalisations and a confusing picture. To clarify the effect of sex on prion disease incubation time in mice we have compared male and female transmission data from twelve different inbred lines of mice inoculated with at least two prion strains, representing both mouse-adapted scrapie and BSE. Our data show that sex can have a highly significant difference on incubation time. However, this is limited to particular mouse and prion strain combinations. No sex differences were seen in endogenous PrP(C) levels nor in the neuropathological markers of prion disease: PrP(Sc) distribution, spongiosis, neuronal loss and gliosis. These data suggest that when comparing incubation times between experimental groups, such as testing the effects of modifier genes or therapeutics, single sex groups should be used.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0028741&type=printable
spellingShingle Shaheen Akhtar
Adam Wenborn
Sebastian Brandner
John Collinge
Sarah E Lloyd
Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
PLoS ONE
title Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
title_full Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
title_fullStr Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
title_full_unstemmed Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
title_short Sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time.
title_sort sex effects in mouse prion disease incubation time
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0028741&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT shaheenakhtar sexeffectsinmousepriondiseaseincubationtime
AT adamwenborn sexeffectsinmousepriondiseaseincubationtime
AT sebastianbrandner sexeffectsinmousepriondiseaseincubationtime
AT johncollinge sexeffectsinmousepriondiseaseincubationtime
AT sarahelloyd sexeffectsinmousepriondiseaseincubationtime