Gender and Gulf War Illness
Abstract
Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a persistent disorder characterized by dysfunction of the immune, neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous systems. Although both genders were deployed to the military theater, most studies of GWI have focused on males. We used the sarin surrogate diisopropyl fluorophosphates (DFP) coupled with treatment with the adrenal hormone, corticosterone (CORT) to develop an animal model of GWI, characterized by neuroinflammationand heart disease. We propose a program to extend our GWI animal model to female. The goal is to characterize the inflammatory, endocrine and autonomic/cardiac characteristics. The need for such a program is based on the lack of detailed information on the etiology of GWI in females. This knowledge will allow us to proceed down the path to feasible GWI treatments. Objective: The objective of this proposal is to use a GWI female mouse model to study cardiovascular and neuro-inflammatory profiles to DFP exposure. We suggest cardiac/autonomic dysfunction caused by neuroinflammatory and cardiovascular response to organophosphate toxins due to the interactions between the gender specific sex steroids, the extended neuroendocrine and immune systems, and the adrenal stress axis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1152354
Entities
People
- Mariana Morris
Organizations
- Nova Southeastern University