Figure 5
Acute sex-specific effects of EGF via AKT-ERK1/2 signaling. FDLE cells were cultured in SF-Med and stimulated with EGF for 45 min. Data are displayed as box and whiskers with the 10–90 percentile, mean (+) and median (horizontal line). (a) In male FDLE cells, EGF significantly decreased Ibase and ΔIamil after 45 min (n = 32–37; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 by t-test), while female FDLE cells were not significantly affected by acute EGF application. (b) EGF acutely increased Iamil-insens in male FDLE cells (*p < 0.05), while Rte (c) was not affected within the experimental time frame. (d) EGF significantly increased AKT phosphorylation within 15 min only in female FDLE cells (n = 3; *p < 0.05 by t-test). (e) In contrast, EGF significantly increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation within 15 min in both, male and female FDLE cells (n = 3; ***p < 0.001 by t-test). (f) Short-term EGF exposure decreased EGFR protein expression (n = 10/9; *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001 by t-test). (Grey boxes) male; (yellow boxes) female.
