Figure 5

Estrogen induces inflammation in the injured zebrafish heart. A. Gene Ontogeny (GO) terms significantly enriched in genes differentially expressed in female vs male hearts at 7 dpc, n = 3. (B) Comparison of gene expression patterns at 7 dpc in the hearts of female vs male, E2 (1 nM)-treated male vs untreated male, and tamoxifen (1 μM)-treated female vs untreated female, n = 3. (C) Expression of immune and inflammation-related genes in the datasets, n = 3. (D, E and F) Expression of ifn-γ at 7dpc in female and male zebrafish heart and uninjured fish (D). Tamoxifen decreased (E) and E2 increased (F) the expression of ifn-γ in females and males at 7 dpc. n = 4, two-tail t test, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. (G and H) Western blot of STAT1 and STAT3 in female and male heart at 7 dpc using different treatments. H, bar chart showing the quantification of STAT1 expression in male fish in panel G, n = 3, two-tail t test, *P < 0.05.