Steven Bloomer, Thesis Supervisor David E Ruth, Thesis Honors Advisor Eric Paul Ingersoll, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
autophagy oxidative stress inflammation sex differences
Abstract:
In general, the average female lifespan is longer than the average male lifespan. These lifespan differences are supported by the differences in oxidative stress and inflammation between the two sexes. The aim of this study was to observe autophagic sex differences and provide a mechanism that would suggest an explanation for the sex differences in oxidative stress and inflammation. Autophagy can affect inflammation through removal of inflammasome components from the cell, and oxidative stress through degradation of defective mitochondria, thus reducing peroxide production. One of the vital autophagy proteins is sequestosome 1 (also known as SQSTM1 or p62), which is an autophagy substrate whose levels can indicate the extent of autophagy within the cell. The level of this protein is inversely proportional to autophagic activity. This study utilized the livers of male and female mice at 25-weeks of age. As was expected, females showed a lower amount of p62 protein, suggesting that autophagic flux is greater in females.