Skip to main content
. 2020 Sep 11;117(38):23751–23761. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1915075117

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.

Perinatal androgen exposure in females masculinizes MC-mediated anaphylactic responses into adulthood. (A) Schematic of perinatal androgenization protocol created with BioRender.com. Adult (8 wk old) male and female mice that were perinatally TP-treated or SO-treated were sensitized with DNP-specific IgE (10 μg i.p.) and challenged the following day with DNP-HSA (500 μg i.p., n = 6 to 9 per group) or PBS (n = 3 per sex). (B) Control (CF) mice had more severe hypothermia responses compared to AF mice. CM and AF mice had similar hypothermia responses. Androgenized male (AM) mice had reduced hypothermia compared to all other groups. RM two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. (C) Peak temperature change was greatest in CF mice. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. (D) Serum histamine levels were increased in all groups 30 min after DNP injection. Perinatal testosterone exposure greatly reduced histamine levels in female mice to the level of CM. Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. (E) Serum MCPT-1 levels were increased in all groups 30 min after DNP injection. Serum MCPT-1 levels were below the limit of detection in mice treated with PBS. Perinatal androgenization greatly reduced MCPT-1 levels in female mice to the level of CM. (F) One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. MC number in intestinal mesenteric windows was not different between groups; n = 5 to 7 per group; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. (G) The percentage of mesenteric MCs that exhibited a degranulated appearance was increased following induction of PSA in intestinal mesentery, but there were no differences between control and androgenized mice. Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. (H) Meningeal MC number was similar between groups; n = 7 to 10 per group. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. (I) PSA increased MC degranulation in the meninges to similar levels in all groups. Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. Data represent means ± SEM. Experimental animals within each treatment were derived from at least seven dams and studies conducted in at least three independent cohorts to establish reproducibility. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.