Sex differences of hematopoietic stem cells

Stem cells in the bone marrow of men and women turned out to be different

RIA NewsAmerican molecular biologists have found that hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of men and women differ markedly from each other, both in the activity of genes inside them and in how they react to various hormones, according to an article published in the journal Nature (Nakada et al., Oestrogen increases haematopoietic stem-cell self-renewal in females and during pregnancy; Estrogen promotes blood-forming stem cell function press release published on the website of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center – VM).

Men and women differ from each other not only in sexual organs and secondary sexual characteristics, but also in the work of the body as a whole. Differences in the sets of hormones and other signaling molecules explain the existence of typically "male" and "female" diseases, as well as features of the psyche and body structure.

Sean Morrison from the University of Texas at Dallas (USA) and his colleagues discovered an interesting example of such differences by observing how hematopoietic stem cells work in the organisms of male and female mice. At first, scientists did not find significant differences in the work of the bone marrow, the number of cells of which, their outlines and properties were the same for the weaker and stronger sex.

Nevertheless, when they "looked" deeper and analyzed the protein composition of cells and the activity of genes in them, they found several serious differences in their work. Firstly, female hematopoietic cells divided noticeably more actively than their male "cousins", and much more often turned into "blanks" of red blood cells.

Secondly, they reacted quite differently to some signaling molecules, including estrogen, the "female" hormone. An increase in the concentration of this compound in the vicinity of female stem cells caused them to divide faster and turn into red blood cells and other blood cells faster. This did not happen when estrogen was injected into the bone marrow of males.

According to the authors of the article, these features in the work of hematopoietic cells help women to supply oxygen to themselves and the baby's body in the womb. A good argument in favor of this assumption is that during pregnancy, the level of estrogen in the blood of women reaches a peak.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.01.2014