Background and objectiveMild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS) presents with a marked female preponderance, but whether the sex difference in its distribution has any relevance to the presentation and outcome of the disease is unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to compare biochemical indices of hypercortisolism and impaired glucose metabolism between male and female patients with MACS.MethodWe enrolled a total of 98 patients with autonomous/possible autonomous cortisol secretion in our study, and indices of hypercortisolism and glucose metabolism were collected and compared between the male and female patients. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between sex and cortisol-secretory ability, as well as between the latter and glucose metabolism. In addition, we conducted further stratified analyses according to the degree of autonomous cortisol secretion and menopausal status.ResultsCortisol levels at 00:00 and 08:00 h after a 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) and low-dose DST were significantly higher in female than in male MACS patients, and the inhibition rate of 1-mg DST was lower in the women than in the men. This significant difference still remained after adjusting for age, BMI, and the course of the disease. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between autonomous cortisol secretion and fasting C-peptide, as well as with the C-peptide-to-glucose ratio in females relative to male patients. In addition, stratified analyses indicated that this association was observed only among women with autonomous cortisol secretion and who were premenopausal.ConclusionThe level of autonomic cortisol secretion in female patients with MACS was higher than in male patients, and the association between autonomous cortisol secretory ability and glucose homeostasis was only noted in patients with autonomous cortisol secretion and in premenopausal women. This phenomenon will, however, require closer follow-up.

There is accumulating evidence that the association of apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) with the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is modified by sex. However, the associations of APOE4 status and sex with AD-related markers in older adults with significant memory concern (SMC) remain elusive. Among individuals with SMC (n = 106), we investigated the associations of APOE4 status and sex with multiple AD-related markers, including verbal memory, hippocampal volumes, cerebral glucose metabolism and cortical amyloid burden. In individuals with SMC, we found a significant APOE4*sex interaction for cerebral glucose metabolism, but not verbal memory, hippocampal volumes or cortical amyloid burden. Specifically, female APOE4 carriers showed significantly higher cerebral glucose metabolism compared to female APOE4 non-carriers whereas male APOE4 carriers had lower cerebral glucose metabolism than male APOE4-noncarriers. In conclusion, the effect of APOE4 on cerebral glucose metabolism is altered by sex in individuals with SMC.

Circadian disruption (CD) is the consequence of a mismatch between endogenous circadian rhythms and behavior, and frequently occurs in shift workers. CD has often been linked to impairment of glucose and lipid homeostasis. It is, however, unknown if these effects are sex dependent. Here, we subjected male and female C57BL/6J mice to 6-h light phase advancements every 3 days to induce CD and assessed glucose and lipid homeostasis. Within this model, we studied the involvement of gonadal sex hormones by injecting mice with gonadotropin-releasing hormone-antagonist degarelix. We demonstrate that CD has sex-specific effects on glucose homeostasis, as CD elevated fasting insulin levels in male mice while increasing fasting glucose levels in female mice, which appeared to be independent of behavior, food intake, and energy expenditure. Absence of gonadal sex hormones lowered plasma insulin levels in male mice subjected to CD while it delayed glucose clearance in female mice subjected to CD. CD elevated plasma triglyceride (TG) levels and delayed plasma clearance of TG-rich lipoproteins in both sexes, coinciding with reduced TG-derived FA uptake by adipose tissues. Absence of gonadal sex hormones did not notably alter the effects of CD on lipid metabolism. We conclude that CD causes sex-dependent effects on glucose metabolism, as aggravated by male gonadal sex hormones and partly rescued by female gonadal sex hormones. Future studies on CD should consider the inclusion of both sexes, which may eventually contribute to personalized advice for shift workers.

Sex is between the legs and Gender is between the ears.[1] Sex of a person is the biological distinction of male and female (phenotypically penis is found in a male and vagina in a female; Genotypically testes in male and ovaries in a female; karyotypically XY chromosomes in a male and XX chromosomes in a female). Gender of a person is the social construct of a person. A male may have masculine attributes along with feminine attributes. Similarly a female may also have feminine and masculine attributes. It all depends on the power a person enjoys in the society. A male may have control over the female; upper caste female/male over the lower caste male/female; abled person over the disabled; rich person over the poor person – all these known as Intersectionality. This power imbalance leads to a lot of gender discrimination in the society. As a re-sult in the society, Male is considered as the first sex; female as second sex and other sex as third sex.

Objective To comprehend the abnormal glucose metabolism of residents in Heilongjiang province, analyze their epidemiological factors, to further improve the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Methods A survey on diabetes was carried out with multi-stage stratified and cluster sampling method. Analysis of the relationship between abnormal glucose metabolism and age, gender was conducted among 3058 residents (including 1219 male and 1839 female) aged from 20 to 74 years. All the respondents were divided into isolated impaired fasting glucose (IFG, n=143), isolated impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, n=333), combined IFG and IGT (IFG+ IGT, n=113), diabetes (DM, n=265), and normal people (NGR, n=2204). Results Females were at high risk of developing diabetes disease at 60-74 years of age, and the age-adjusted prevalence was 15.08%. However, the peak of the prevalence of diabetes occurred earlier in males, at 50-59 years, the age-adjusted prevalence was 21.23%. The peak of the prevalence of impaired glucose regulation(IGR) was in the 60-74 age group both in male and female, it was 30.48% and 32.69% after standardized by age, respectively. The ageing-specific prevalence of IGR, DM and IFG+ IGT increased in both male and female residents. While the prevalence of IFG in both male and female and IGT in male was independent to patient′s age. Conclusion Gender and age are two relative risk fators of abnormal glucose metabolism in residents. It is necessary to take comprehensive measures to prevent and control diabetes in the aged, especially in the male. Key words: Diabetes mellitus; Impaired glucose regulation; Prevalence; Age; Gender

The sex of an animal impacts glucose sensitivity, but little information is available regarding the mechanisms causing that difference, especially during acute inflammation. We examined sex-specific differences in the role of the P2Y2 receptor (P2Y2R) in glucose flux with and without LPS challenge. Male and female wild-type and P2Y2R knockout mice (P2Y2R-/-) were injected with LPS or saline and glucose tolerance tests (GTT) were performed. P2Y2R, insulin receptor, and GLUT4 transporter gene expression was also evaluated. Female mice had reduced fasting plasma glucose and females had reduced glucose excursion times compared to male mice during GTT. P2Y2R-/- males had significantly decreased glucose flux throughout the GTT as compared to all female mice. Acute inflammation reduced fasting plasma glucose and the GTT area under the curve in both sexes. While both wild-type and P2Y2R-/- male animals displayed reduced fasting glucose in LPS treatment, female mice did not have significant difference in glucose tolerance, suggesting that the effects of P2Y2R are specific to male mice, even under inflammatory conditions. Overall, we conclude that the role for the purinergic receptor, P2Y2R, in regulating glucose metabolism is minimal in females but plays a large role in male mice, particularly in the acute inflammatory state.

Thyroid hormones are vital for survival of mammalian species and play critical roles in growth, development, and metabolism. Both fetal hypothyroidism and sex can affect carbohydrate metabolism during adult life. This study aims to assess carbohydrate metabolism in male and female offspring born from mothers who were hypothyroid during pregnancy. Pregnant rats were divided into two groups; the controls consumed water and the hypothyroid group received water containing 0.025 % 6-propyl-2-thiouracial throughout gestation. The intravenous glucose tolerance test (0.5 g/kg glucose) was carried out in 3-month-old offspring. Findings showed that compared to controls, male fetal hypothyroid rats during adulthood had glucose intolerance (area under the curve: 446.4 ± 9.7 vs. 486.4 ± 8.8, p < 0.01 in control and fetal hypothyroid groups, respectively) whereas females had improved glucose tolerance (478.1 ± 7.0 vs. 455.9 ± 8.5, p < 0.01). In conclusion, sex could modulate the effects of fetal hypothyroidism on glucose tolerance in rats.

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. It is more prevalent in males and female patients have better survival. Investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying this disparity is imperative for understanding its development and progression as well as developing novel treatment paradigms. Carbohydrate (namely glucose) metabolism is a critical GBM nutrient source for biosynthesis, energetics, and reducing equivalents. Previously, our group discovered that elevated glycolytic activity uniquely predicted the outcomes of male, but not female, lower grade glioma patients. Our goal was to characterize sex differences in GBM carbohydrate metabolism and their effects on cellular phenotype. First, we discovered that male transformed murine astrocytes were more susceptible to glucose deprivation than females. We confirmed this phenotype with irreversible inhibition of hexokinase with 2-deoxyglucose as well as a GLUT1-selective inhibitor. Time-resolved stable isotope tracing of cell metabolism with carbon-13 glucose in transformed astrocytes further supported these findings; male cells had significantly higher rates of glucose uptake and metabolism than female cells. These results were validated with stable isotope metabolomics datasets from human cancer cell lines. Using additional assays of cellular metabolism, we discovered that male transformed astrocytes had a higher glycolytic rate, higher pyruvate kinase activity, higher mitochondrial respiration, and higher mitochondrial mass compared to females. This was validated by a TCGA pancancer analysis that revealed significantly higher expression of nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial regulation in males than in females. This prompted us to identify possible regulators of this metabolic phenotype. We discovered that HIF1A had robust hypoxia-inducible expression that was significantly higher in male transformed astrocytes. Moreover, HIF1A expression as well as its target transcripts were significantly higher in TCGA pancancer tumor datasets. Together, our data underscore the potential for developing sex-specific metabolic targeting approaches for patients with GBM.

Glucose metabolism plays an important role in energy balance control in mammalian cells and has been widely used as an indicator of embryo developmental competence. Previous studies have shown that developmental kinetic rates following IVF are lower in female than in male blastocysts, which may be related to differences in glucose consumption and metabolism. In addition, we have demonstrated that inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) with a structurally unrelated inhibitor, LY294002, suggests a negative role for PI3-K in the regulation of bovine embryo development (Aparicio et al. 2010 Reproduction 140, 83–92). The aim of this study was to determine whether PI3-K has a role in the regulation of glucose metabolism in Day 7 bovine blastocysts and to study the possible differential protein expression involved in glucose metabolism [hexokinase-I (HK-I), phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1), pyruvate kinase1/2 (PMK1/2), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), lactate dehydrogenase A/C (LDHA/C), glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3A/B)] between in vitro produced male and female embryos derived from IVF with either X- or Y-sorted semen. Day 7 blastocysts derived from unsorted semen (n = 25 blastocysts per group) were incubated up to 12 h in SOF culture medium in the presence or absence of LY294002 (10 μM) and stored. Similarly, male and female Day 7 blastocysts derived from sorted semen were collected apart and stored at –80°C until proteomic analysis (Western blot analysis of proteins separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacylamide gel electrophoresis). Inhibition of PI3K significantly decreased HK-I (P &lt; 0.01), PFK-1 (P &lt; 0.001), GAPDH (P &lt; 0.05), GSK-3A/B (P &lt; 0.001), and GLUT-1 (P &lt; 0.01) protein levels. Interestingly, protein expression of HK-1 (P &lt; 0.001), PFK-1 (P &lt; 0.01), PMK1/2 (P &lt; 0.05), GAPDH (P &lt; 0.01), and GLUT-1 (P &lt; 0.001) was significantly higher in male compared with female blastocysts. The significant increase in the phosphorylated forms (Ser21 and Ser9) of both isoforms (GSK-3A/B) in male compared with female embryos is indicative of a higher inactivation of GSK-3A/B in males (P &lt; 0.001). The presence of LDHA/C activity was not detected in any blastocyst group, irrespective of the gender or treatment studied. In conclusion, our data suggest that PI3K plays a major role in the regulation of glucose metabolism in bovine embryos, because pretreatment with LY294002 significantly modified the protein expression of HK-I, PFK-1, GAPDH, GSK- 3A/B, and GLUT-1, and underline the possibility of modulating glucose metabolism via the PI3K cellular pathway. The differential glycolytic metabolism between male and female blastocysts might explain the higher developmental kinetic rates in males described by other authors, because the expression of proteins involved in glycolysis and glycogenogenesis was significantly higher in male than in female in vitro-produced bovine embryos.

Background: The modern immunology is targeted to the detailed study of various immunopathological conditions at the molecular and cellular level, development of new methods for the prevention, diagnostics and treatment of contagious and non-contagious diseases of humans and animals.Methods: In the present work we took the rats with model of cyclophosphamide-induced immunodeficiency and studied the features of gender impact of the complex extract of immunocompetent organs (thymus, spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes) Sus scrofa and its separate fraction with molecular weight less than 30 kDa administered to male and female rats.Results and Conclusion: The impact of gender differences and tissue-specific biomolecules (30 kDa fraction) on hematological parameters (leukocytes, erythrocytes, platelets), functional activity of immune system (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, complement system, IgG, IgM), biochemical parameters of hepatocytes functioning (activity of ALP and LDG), carbohydrate metabolism (glucose) and lipid metabolism (triglycerides).