Malaria is the parasitic disease with the highest mortality worldwide; males exhibit higher mortality and more severe symptomatology than females, suggesting the participation of sexual hormones in protection and pathology. We have documented that gonadectomy modifies oxidative stress in Plasmodium berghei ANKA-infected mice in a dimorphic manner. However, gonadectomy decreases all sexual steroids levels, making it difficult to determine the contribution of each hormone to the results. This study aimed to explore the participation of 17β-oestradiol (E2) in oxidative stress in the blood, spleen, liver and brain of P. berghei-infected female and male mice. E2 was administered to intact or gonadectomized (GX) male and female mice to assess their effects on parasitaemia, body weight loss and hypothermia. We also measured the effect of E2 on the specific activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and on malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the blood, spleen, liver and brain of CBA/Ca male and female mice infected with P. berghei ANKA. We detected the effects of E2 and sexual dimorphism on all tissues and variables analysed. Administration of E2 increased parasitaemia in intact mice. However, reconstitution of GX female mice with E2 decreased parasitaemia. E2 decreased body weight and differentially modulated oxidative stress depending on the sex, infection and tissue analysed. Low antioxidant activity was detected in the brain, suggesting additional protective antioxidant mechanisms in the brain independent of antioxidant enzymes. Our results explained, at least in part, the sexual dimorphism in this experimental model of malaria.

中文翻译：

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17β-雌二醇对实验性疟疾的病理学和氧化应激的双态作用。

疟疾是全世界死亡率最高的寄生虫病。男性比女性表现出更高的死亡率和更严重的症状，表明性激素参与了保护和病理。我们已经证明，性腺切除术以双态的方式改变了伯氏疟原虫ANKA感染小鼠的氧化应激。但是，性腺切除术会降低所有性类固醇的水平，因此很难确定每种激素对结果的贡献。本研究旨在探讨17β-雌二醇（E2）参与感染伯氏疟原虫的雌性和雄性小鼠血液，脾脏，肝脏和大脑中的氧化应激。将E2给予完整或性腺切除（GX）的雄性和雌性小鼠，以评估其对寄生虫血症，体重减轻和体温过低的影响。我们还测量了E2对CBA / Ca雄性小鼠的血液，脾脏，肝脏和大脑中超氧化物歧化酶（SOD），过氧化氢酶（CAT）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GPx）的比活性以及丙二醛（MDA）含量的影响。感染伯氏疟原虫ANKA的雌性小鼠。我们检测到E2和性二态性对所有组织和变量分析的影响。施用E2可增加完整小鼠的寄生虫血症。但是，用E2重组GX雌性小鼠可降低寄生虫血症。E2降低了体重，并根据所分析的性别，感染和组织不同地调节了氧化应激。在大脑中检测到的抗氧化活性较低，表明大脑中的其他保护性抗氧化机制独立于抗氧化酶。我们的结果至少部分解释了