: During middle age, women are less susceptible to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) than men. Thus, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms behind these sexual differences using an established rat model of NASH. Mature female and male stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive 5/Dmcr rats were fed control or high-fat-cholesterol (HFC) diets for 2, 8, and 14 weeks. Although HFC-induced hepatic fibrosis was markedly less severe in females than in males, only minor gender differences were observed in expression levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP)7A1, CYP8B1 CYP27A1, and CYP7B1, and multidrug resistance-associated protein 3, and bile salt export pump, which are involved in fibrosis-related bile acid (BA) kinetics. However, the BA detoxification-related enzymes UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) and sulfotransferase (SULT) 2A1, and the nuclear receptors constitutive androstene receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR), were strongly suppressed in HFC fed males, and were only slightly changed in HFC-diet fed females. Expression levels of the farnesoid X receptor and its small heterodimer partner were similarly regulated in a gender-dependent fashion following HFC feeding. Hence, the pronounced female resistance to HFC-induced liver damage likely reflects sustained expression of the nuclear receptors CAR and PXR and the BA detoxification enzymes UGT and SULT.Keywords constitutive androstene receptor, cytochrome P450, fibrosis, gender difference, high-fat-cholesterol (HFC) diet, necrosis, stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive 5/Dmcr rats, 3 sulfotransferase, pregnane X receptor, UGP-glucuronosyltransferase.
Research manuscript sections 1. IntroductionNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in developed and developing countries [1][2][3]. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the progressive form of NAFLD, and leads to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and hepatic failure, and is a serious public health problem [4]. The prevalence of NASH/NAFLD varies with gender and age in humans, and in a study of 193 Japanese patients with biopsy-diagnosed NASH, male gender was more prevalent among patients of 30-40 years of age, whereas female gender was predominant among patients of > 50 years of age [5]. In accordance, a recent prospective study using ultrasound analyses and liver biopsies showed that NAFLD was more frequent in male than in female middle-aged patients [6].Animal experiments using Pten knockout mice demonstrated that females have attenuated hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and carcinogenicity compared with male mice [7]. However, this model was based on modifications of genes that are involved in carcinogenesis. In contrast, female mice were reportedly more susceptible to NAFLD induced by 30% fructose [8], and methionine-choline-deficient diet (MCDD)-induced steatohepatitis was comparable in male and female mice [9]. Hence, although gender differences in the development of NAFLD/NASH have been investigated in several animal studies, contrasti...