In humans, naturally acquired microchimerism has been observed in many tissues and organs. Fetal microchimerism, however, has not been investigated in the human brain. Microchimerism of fetal as well as maternal origin has recently been reported in the mouse brain. In this study, we quantified male DNA in the human female brain as a marker for microchimerism of fetal origin (i.e. acquisition of male DNA by a woman while bearing a male fetus). Targeting the Y-chromosome-specific DYS14 gene, we performed real-time quantitative PCR in autopsied brain from women without clinical or pathologic evidence of neurologic disease (n = 26), or women who had Alzheimer’s disease (n = 33). We report that 63% of the females (37 of 59) tested harbored male microchimerism in the brain. Male microchimerism was present in multiple brain regions. Results also suggested lower prevalence (p = 0.03) and concentration (p = 0.06) of male microchimerism in the brains of women with Alzheimer’s disease than the brains of women without neurologic disease. In conclusion, male microchimerism is frequent and widely distributed in the human female brain.
Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain | PLOS ONE Skip to main content Advertisement plos.orgcreate accountsign in PublishAboutBrowseSearchadvanced searchBrowse Topics Browse Subject Areas ? Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here. 309 Save Total Mendeley and Citeulike bookmarks. 99 Citation Paper's citation count computed by Dimensions. 452,183 View PLOS views and downloads. 1,009 Share Sum of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Wikipedia activity. Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain William F. N. Chan , * E-mail: [email protected] Current address: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Affiliation Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ Cécile Gurnot, Affiliation Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ Thomas J. Montine, Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ Joshua A. Sonnen, Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ Katherine A. Guthrie, Affiliation Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ J. Lee Nelson Affiliations Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, Division of Rheumatology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America ⨯ Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain William F. N. Chan, Cécile Gurnot, Thomas J. Montine, Joshua A. Sonnen, Katherine A. Guthrie, J. Lee Nelson x Published: September 26, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045592 Article Authors Metrics Comments Media Coverage Reader Comments Post a new comment on this article Post Your Discussion Comment Please follow our guidelines for comments and review our competing interests policy. Comments that do not conform to our guidelines will be promptly removed and the user account disabled. 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Thank you for taking the time to flag this posting; we review flagged postings on a regular basis. close DNA - Genetics in humans with more than one partner Posted by lwg on 21 Sep 2018 at 10:34 GMT In this age of online DNA testing putting us in touch with numerous "DNA cousins", I have found that there is a good possibility that who we have come to know as my maternal grandfather (on paper, "Father A") might be someone other than who my maternal grandmother was married to.But the odd thing is, there appears to be a large number of "DNA matches" of the suspected "Father B"...Over "60" DNA matches in common with Father B..., (at least two DNA matches as close as 2nd cousins). I happen to know the identity of Father B from my mother (who always suspected him to be her biological father), hence I was later able to enter his family tree and discover these numerous "mystery" DNA matches.Father A seems to have only three "trace amounts" of DNA "cousin matches" (of course we don't know how many descendants of this ancestor have taken the DNA test, but we do know there are "numerous descendants").How can this be? How can both my mother and I have seemingly inherited DNA from both Father A and Father B? Hence, my researching everything I can find about Microchimerism and Telegony. Why isn't more known about this? I'm sure there would be many people (such as myself) willing to share the DNA data for further study. As a genealogist, I'd like to have answers to this matter without resorting to the expense of exhuming Father B's body and having an expensive DNA test procured, not to mention the costs of re-internment.Thank you to anyone who reads this that can help me with answers to these questions. On a side note, it appears that my mother is showing signs of Alzheimers/Dementia at age 72. No competing interests declared. report a concern respond to this posting Download PDF Citation XML Print Share Reddit Facebook LinkedIn Mendeley Twitter Email Advertisement Subject Areas ? For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here. We want your feedback. Do these Subject Areas make sense for this article? Click the target next to the incorrect Subject Area and let us know. Thanks for your help! Alzheimer's disease Is the Subject Area "Alzheimer's disease" applicable to this article? Yes No Thanks for your feedback. Brain diseases Is the Subject Area "Brain diseases" applicable to this article? 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