Gender Susceptibility to Demyelination/Remyelination

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9) Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Matsushima, Glenn K DESCRIPTION: State the application's broad, long-term objectives and specific aims, making reference to the health relatedness of the project. Describe concisely the research design and methods for achieving these goals. Avoid summaries of past accomplishments and the use of the first person. This abstract is meant to serve as a succinct and accurate description of the proposed work when separated from the application. If the application is funded, this description, as is, will become public information, Therefore, do not include propdetary/confidential information, DO NOT EXCEED TIlE SPACE PROVIDED. A number of autoimmune diseases show gender differences in susceptibility and severity. Multiple scleros s afflicts females at nearly twice the frequency as males; however, males tend to have a more severe disease profile and mortality. In our murine model of demyelination/remyelination that show features similar to MS, we find male mice that are chronically exposed to a neurointoxicant, cuprizone, undergo episodic demyelination/remyelination in the central nervous system. After a third episode of demyelination, male mice show grand mal seizures and die whereas females, although undergo similar episodic demyelination/remyelination, remain viable longer. This proposal investigates the role of estrogen, estrogen receptors and growth factors that may account for gender differences in seizures and demyelinating disease. We will study a plausible mechanism for the action of estrogen, test in vivo whether estrogen and IGF-1 can alter disease progression in male and female mice, and the role of estrogen receptors in gender differences. Our hope is to understand the interplay of these factors and elucidate mechanisms that may alter or ameliorate CNS demyelinating disease in both genders. PERFORMANCE SiTE ========================================Section End===========================================