SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE EFFECTS OF ACUTE OZONE EXPOSURE ON PRIMARY HUMAN BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL CELLS

Abstract

Sex differences have been observed in the formation of respiratory diseases and disorders as well as the response to air pollutants. Women tend to develop respiratory disorders such as asthma and COPD more often than men, as well as have worse health outcomes when exposed to air pollutants such as ozone. Prior studies have shown that there may be genetic and hormonal components to the disparities seen in these responses; however, these specific pathways are not known. This study plans to investigate the sex differences in inflammatory pathways and cellular responses to acute ozone exposure using male and female primary human bronchial epithelial cells grown at the air-liquid interface.

In this research, we found sex differences in the cellular response to ozone exposure in that female cells exhibited a loss in cytotoxicity as well as viability ozone compared to male cells. According to our data, there are several genes related to inflammation that displayed sex differences in regulation when exposed to ozone as well as differences in basal expression. In addition to this, we have observed significant differences in protein secretion into cellular media that were dependent on the sex of the cells.