Mice and Men: Gender Discrimination in Alzheimer's Research



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Are you a man or are you a mouse? – The answer is both if you are used to research on Alzheimer's

  Mouse.

Photo: 123rf

New research has shown that research on Alzheimer's disease and dementia

The research was presented at the recent annual Alzheimer's & # 39; s Disease International.

Speaking at the conference in Chicago last week, the Women's Brain Project argued that, like the human brain, there are gender differences and this could be crucial for making progress or cure Alzheimer's disease.

Sex plays a role in the risk of developing and being diagnosed with dementia, said Catherine Hall. "The number of women with dementia is about 30% higher than that of men and women are also deteriorating faster than men, so it is essential that research looks at the difference between the sexes if we have an MS. Hall says that about 60,000 New Zealanders have dementia and that number is expected to triple by 2050.

But this problem is not isolated from the research on the disease. 39, Alzheimer's and Dementia

The Microbiologist at the University of Auckland, Siouxsie Wiles, believes that prejudices are a factor of science

"One of the reasons was that the oestrous cycle of females influenced the results, it makes things harder to normalize because they have a cycle, but women too, "she said.

Dr. Wiles said that she personally had a tendency to use female mice because they are less aggressive towards each other. "Some of the studies I found [on gender bias] suggested that there was one around the pain and that the drugs had been subject to human trials, but when they came back on the male and female mice, there were differences i She said that it would be wise to consciously choose, before doing any research, whether the tests should be performed on animals or female and male cells.

However, she added that it would double the cost of testing, and in countries like New Zealand, research is already difficult to finance.

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