Fig. 6
From: Higher sensitivity of female cells to ethanol: methylation of DNA lowers Cyp2e1, generating more ROS
Role of Cyp2e1 in sex differences of the ethanol degradation pathway. Female cells are more sensitive to cell death by ethanol. We propose that female cells express more Cyp2e1, owing to lesser methylation of CpG islands in the gene, while male cells maintain higher GSH and GSH responsiveness. These two differences allow greater generation of ROS, and hence higher susceptibility to EtOH. Relative importance of the differences are indicated by predominance of red (female) in three branches of the pathway and the predominance of blue (male) in the role of GSH