Young Scientist Awards Gender difference of mortality and cytokine changes in cirrhotic and septic rats after immunonutrition Chang Gung University/Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Email: tcfs631c@yahoo.com.tw Objective: Gender differences have been confirmed in human sepsis with female patients having a significantly better prognosis, possibly related to increased levels of anti-inflammatory mediators. Arginine, glutamine, -3 fatty acids, and nucleotides, have been demonstrated to enhance immune functions in various experimental models and clinical studies. No report ever showed the possible different gender responses after immunonutrition. Methods: Ninety-two cirrhotic S-D rats were produced to have liver cirrhosis with weekly feeding of CCL4 for 3 months. They were divided into four groups: Gps. A1/A2 (n = 23/23): non-orchitectomized male rats receiving immune-enhancing diet (IED) / Control diet. Gps. B1/B2 (n = 23/23): non-oophorectomized female rats at estrus stage receiving IED / Control diet. IED or control regular diet was fed for 5 days, then caecal ligation and two hole puncture (CLP) was produced. Their TNF-, IL-1 , IL-6 and IL-10 were checked at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 24 hours after CLP. The differences of mortality and cytokines responses among four groups were compared. Results: The mortality of male cirrhotic rats with sepsis exceeded that of female cirrhotic rats, but decreased markedly after feeding with IED. Both of them produce less pro-inflammatory cytokines after immunonutrition, significantly less TNF- in male rats. The responses of IL-10 in male and female rats after IED were lower, but had no difference between them. Conclusions: The immunonutrition was more important for male cirrhotic rather than female cirrhotic rats during sepsis. The responses of IL-10 in male and female cirrhotic rats after IED were less, which may be due to poor liver function. The study evidence may apply for clinical patients when they had liver cirrhosis. *Contact person email: hwangtl@adm.cgmh.org.tw From "The 11th PENSA Congress" October 1-4, 2005, Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel, Seoul, Korea. Page: 273