Use female BALB/c nude mice in HCC study - (Jan/14/2013 )

Dear all,

Can anyone tell me why use female BALB/c nude mice in HCC study of TCF factor? Any particular reason not using male mice instead?
As papers I read mainly use male nude mice on HCC study.

Thanks all!

Some reasons might be that female mice tend to get along with each other better (don't fight and injure each other as much), and are often easier to handle.

A quick google search leads me to find that it is better to use male mice rather than female, as a model for HCC, because oestrogens can inhibit HCC formation, while adrogens stimulate it.

So I'm not sure it is advisable to use female mice- as less will develop the HCC for you to study.

Unless the gender specific differences is what you are interested in maybe?