10:00 p.m
Monday 06 February 2023
Scientists have noted that men are more likely to develop severe infection from the Corona virus, with an increase in death rates, since the first months of the “Covid-19” epidemic.
A scientist at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) has come up with new findings that may explain the reason behind these gender differences, according to Medical Express.
A new publication in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences indicates that males perform worse than females with the disease because the virus more readily attacks female fatty tissue rather than lung tissue.
Dr Yothi Nagagyuthi, a scientist at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation, and his team explained: “Our data suggest that adipose tissue in female mice may act as a sink/reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, thus protecting the lungs from a greater viral load, preventing lung damage.” due to infiltrating immune cells and active pro-inflammatory cytokines.”
Nagajyothi Lab’s mouse models, which simulate the human immune system, showed that females lose more fat compared to males when infected with “Covid-19”.
Males had more virus in their lungs, while females showed more virus in their fatty tissues.
The theory goes that adipose tissue in females may act as a “sink” or “reservoir” for the virus.
The latest paper follows a publication last year in the journal Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine in which Nagagyuthi and colleagues showed that the virus infiltrated the lungs of males much more easily than it did in females.
The recent research paper shows an inverse relationship between viral loads in the lungs and adipose tissue, and it differs between males and females.
They found that SARS-CoV-2 infection altered immune signaling and cell death differently in male and female mice infected with SARS-CoV-2.
They concluded that “these data may help explain the increased susceptibility to contracting Covid-19 in males compared to females.”
