Table 1.

Female 129/Sv mice but not male 129/Sv mice develop Helicobacter pylori-induced atrophic gastritis

Expt and micea	Length of infection (mo)	Median grade of pathology (interquartile range)b
		Cellular infiltration (0–6)	Mucus metaplasia (0–3)	Atrophy (0–3)
Expt 1
Male 129/Sv	2	1 (0.5–1.0)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)
Female 129/Sv	2	1 (1–2.5)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0.5)
Male Muc1−/−	2	0.5 (0–2)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–1)
Female Muc1−/−	2	3 (2.5–4.0)*	0 (0–0)	2 (1–2.5)*
Expt 2
Male 129/Sv	0 (uninfected)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)
Female 129/Sv	0 (uninfected)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)
Male 129/Sv	6	1 (1–2.5)	0 (0–0)	0.5 (0–1.5)
Female 129/Sv	6	4 (4–4)*	0 (0–0)	3 (2.5–3.0)*

^aIn experiment 1, male and female wild-type or Muc1^−/− 129/Sv mice (n = 11) were infected with H. pylori for 2 months, and then gastric pathology was assessed histologically. Gastritis in all mice was observed only in the corpus. Only the H. pylori-infected female Muc1^−/− mice developed atrophic gastritis. In experiment 2, male and female wild-type 129/Sv mice (n = 8) were infected with H. pylori for 6 months or left uninfected. While the infected female mice developed a severe atrophic gastritis, infected male mice developed only a very mild gastritis. This demonstrates that the gender effect on gastritis was not related to Muc1 expression but was common for 129/Sv mice.

^b*, significantly greater cellular infiltrate and atrophy than in all other groups (P < 0.04; Mann-Whitney U test).