scholarly journals Evaluating Sexual Dimorphism of the Muscle Spindles and Intrafusal Muscle Fibers in the Medial Gastrocnemius of Male and Female Rats

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Gartych ◽  
Hanna Jackowiak ◽  
Dorota Bukowska ◽  
Jan Celichowski

This study sought to investigate the sexual dimorphism of muscle spindles in rat medial gastrocnemius muscle. The muscles were cut transversely into 5–10 and 20 μm thick serial sections and the number, density, and morphometric properties of the muscle spindles were determined. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the number of muscle spindles of male (14.45 ± 2.77) and female (15.00 ± 3.13) rats. Muscle mass was 38.89% higher in males (1.08 vs. 0.66 g in females), making the density of these receptors significantly higher (p < 0.01) in females (approximately one spindle per 51.14 mg muscle mass vs. one per 79.91 mg in males). There were no significant differences between the morphometric properties of intrafusal muscle fibers or muscle spindles in male and female rats (p > 0.05): 5.16 ± 2.43 and 5.37 ± 2.27 μm for male and female intrafusal muscle fiber diameter, respectively; 5.57 ± 2.20 and 5.60 ± 2.16 μm for male and female intrafusal muscle fiber number, respectively; 25.85 ± 10.04 and 25.30 ± 9.96 μm for male and female shorter muscle spindle diameter, respectively; and 48.99 ± 20.73 and 43.97 ± 16.96 μm for male and female longer muscle spindle diameter, respectively. These findings suggest that sexual dimorphism in the muscle spindles of rat medial gastrocnemius is limited to density, which contrasts previous findings reporting differences in extrafusal fibers diameter.

1972 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN CROWE ◽  
ABDUL H.M.F. RAGAB

Histochemical investigations upon intrafusal muscle fibers of spindles in the extensor digitorum brevis 1 muscle of the tortoise have been carried out. The localization of phosphorylase, succinic dehydrogenase and adenosine activities together with the demonstration of lipids by the propylene glycol-Sudan method all failed to produce results which could be used to categorize the intrafusal fibers into more than one type. From these results and from previous histologic investigations it is suggested that the tortoise muscle spindle contains just one kind of intrafusal muscle fiber.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjie Wang ◽  
Murtaza M. Kazmi ◽  
Virginia H. Huxley

Objective: The cyclic nucleotide second messengers, cAMP and cGMP, are pivotal regulators of vascular functions; their cellular levels are tightly controlled by the cyclic nucleotide hydrolases, phosphodiesterases (PDE). Biologic sex and age are recognized as independent factors impacting the mechanisms mediating both vascular health and dysfunction. This study focused on microvessels isolated from male and female rats before (juvenile) and after (adult) sexual maturity under resting conditions. We tested the hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in microvascular PDE expression would be absent in juvenile rats, but would manifest in adult rats.Methods: Abdominal skeletal muscle arterioles and venules were isolated from age-matched juvenile and adult male and female rats under resting conditions. Transcripts of five PDE families (1–5) associated with coronary and vascular function with a total of ten genes were measured using TaqMan real-time RT-PCR and protein expression of microvessel PDE4 was assessed using immunoblotting and immunofluorescence.Results: Overall expression levels of PDE5A were highest while PDE3 levels were lowest among the five PDE families (p < 0.05) regardless of age or sex. Contrary to our hypothesis, in juveniles, sexual dimorphism in PDE expression was observed in three genes: arterioles (PDE1A, female > male) and venules (PDE1B and 3A, male > female). In adults, gene expression levels in males were higher than females for five genes in arterioles (PDE1C, 3A, 3B, 4B, 5A) and three genes (PDE3A, 3B, and 5A) in venules. Furthermore, age-related differences were observed in PDE1-5 (in males, adult > juvenile for most genes in arterioles; in females, adult > juvenile for arteriolar PDE3A; juvenile gene expression > adult for two genes in arterioles and three genes in venules). Immunoblotting and immunofluorescence analysis revealed protein expression of microvessel PDE4.Conclusion: This study revealed sexual dimorphism in both juvenile and adult rats, which is inconsistent with our hypothesis. The sex- and age-dependent differences in PDE expression implicate different modulations of cAMP and cGMP pathways for microvessels in health. The implication of these sex- and age-dependent differences, as well as the duration and microdomain of PDE1-5 activities in skeletal muscle microvessels, in both health and disease, require further investigation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 2823-2832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Petit ◽  
Robert W. Banks ◽  
Yves Laporte

Testing the classification of static γ axons using different patterns of random stimulation. The possibility of using randomly generated stimulus intervals (with a Poisson distribution) to identify the type(s) of intrafusal fiber activated by the stimulation of single static γ axons was tested in Peroneus tertius muscle spindles of anesthetized cats. Three patterns of random stimulation with different values of mean intervals [20 ± 4.47, 30 ± 8.94, and 40 ± 8.94 (SD) ms] were used. Single static γ axons activating, in single spindles, either the bag2 fiber alone or the chain fibers alone or both types of intrafusal fiber were prepared. Responses of spindle primary endings elicited by the stimulation of γ axons were recorded from Ia fibers in cut dorsal root filaments. Cross-correlograms between stimuli and spikes of the primary ending responses, autocorrelograms, interval histograms of responses, and stimulations were built. The characteristics of cross-correlograms were found to be related not only to the type of intrafusal muscle fibers activated but also to the parameters of the stimulation. Moreover some cross-correlograms with similar characteristics were produced by the activation of different intrafusal muscle fibers. It also was observed that, whatever the type of intrafusal muscle fiber activated, cross-correlograms could exhibit oscillations after an initial peak, provided the extent in frequency of the primary ending response was small; these oscillations arise in part from the autocorrelation of the primary ending responses. Therefore, cross-correlograms obtained during random stimulation of static γ axons cannot be used for unequivocally identifying the type(s) of intrafusal muscle fiber these axons supply.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 735-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Jeffery ◽  
N. D. Carter ◽  
C. A. Wilson

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) isozymes CAII and CAIII are known to exhibit sexual dimorphism in rat liver, and the levels of these isozymes are affected by sex hormones. In this paper we show that the isozyme CAI is present at low levels in rat liver, with no difference in concentration between male and female rats. Estrogen and diethylstilbestrol reduce CAI levels in both sexes.


1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. E. Borglin ◽  
L. Bjersing

ABSTRACT Oestriol (oestra-1,3,5(10)-triene-3,16α,17β-triol) is a weakly oestrogenic substance which, however, in contrast to what was formerly believed, is of physiological significance. Its effect is localized largely to the uterine cervix and vagina. Clinical experience argues both for and against an effect on the pituitary gland. This investigation is concerned with the morphological changes in the pituitary gland and adrenal cortex of gonadectomized male and female rats after the injection of oestriol. It was found that oestriol has the same type of action on these glands as other oestrogens, but under the experimental conditions used, this effect proved much weaker than that produced by oestradiol (oestra-1,3,5(10)-triene-3,17β-diol).


1973 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Jolín ◽  
M. J. Tarin ◽  
M. D. Garcia

ABSTRACT Male and female rats of varying ages were placad on a low iodine diet (LID) plus KClO4 or 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) or on the same diet supplemented with I (control rats). Goitrogenesis was also induced with LID plus PTU in gonadectomized animals of both sexes. The weight of the control and goitrogen treated animals, and the weight and iodine content of their thyroids were determined, as well as the plasma PBI, TSH, insulin and glucose levels. The pituitary GH-like protein content was assessed by disc electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels. If goitrogenesis was induced in young rats of both sexes starting with rats of the same age, body weight (B.W.) and pituitary growth hormone (GH) content, it was found that both the males and females developed goitres of the same size. On the contrary, when goitrogenesis was induced in adult animals, it was found that male rats, that had larger B.W. and pituitary GH content than age-paired females, developed larger goitres. However, both male and female rats were in a hypothyroid condition of comparable degree as judged by the thyroidal iodine content and the plasma PBI and TSH levels. When all the data on the PTU or KClO4-treated male and female rats of varying age and B.W. were considered together, it was observed that the weights of the thyroids increased proportionally to B.W. However, a difference in the slope of the regression of the thyroid weight over B.W. was found between male and female rats, due to the fact that adult male rats develop larger goitres than female animals. In addition, in the male rats treated with PTU, gonadectomy decreased the B.W., pituitary content of GH-like protein and, concomitantly, the size of the goitre decreased; an opposite effect was induced by ovariectomy on the female animals. However, when goitrogenesis was induced in weight-paired adult rats of both sexes, the male animals still developed larger goitres than the females. Among all the parameters studied here, the only ones which appeared to bear a consistent relationship with the size of the goitres in rats of different sexes, treated with a given goitrogen, were the rate of body growth and the amount of a pituitary GH-like protein found before the onset of the goitrogen treatment. Moreover, though the pituitary content of the GH-like protein decreased as a consequence of goitrogen treatment, it was still somewhat higher in male that in female animals. The present results suggest that GH may somehow be involved in the mechanism by which male and female rats on goitrogens develop goitres of different sizes, despite equally high plasma TSH levels.


1968 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Boyd ◽  
Donald C. Johnson

ABSTRACT The effects of various doses of testosterone propionate (TP) upon the release of luteinizing hormone (LH or ICSH) from the hypophysis of a gonadectomized male or female rat were compared. Prostate weight in hypophysectomized male parabiotic partners was used to evaluate the quantity of circulating LH. Hypophyseal LH was measured by the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion method. Males castrated when 45 days old secreted significantly more LH and had three times the amount of pituitary LH as ovariectomized females. Administration of 25 μg TP daily reduced the amount of LH in the plasma, and increased the amount in the pituitary gland, in both sexes. Treatment with 50 μg caused a further reduction in plasma LH in males, but not in females, while pituitary levels in both were equal to that of their respective controls. LH fell to the same low level in partners of males or females receiving 100 μg TP. When gonadectomized at 39 days, males and females had the same amount of plasma LH, but males had more stored hormone. Pituitary levels were unchanged from controls following treatment with 12.5, 25 or 50 μg TP daily, but plasma values dropped an equal amount in both sexes with the latter two doses. Androgenized males or females, gonadectomized when 39 days old, were very sensitive to the effects of TP and plasma LH was significantly reduced with 12.5 μg daily. Pituitary LH in androgenized males was higher than that of normal males but was reduced to normal by small amounts of TP. The amount of stored LH in androgenized females was not different from that of normal females and it was unchanged by any dose of TP tested. Results are consistent with the conclusion that the male hypothalamic-hypophyseal axis is at least as sensitive as the female axis to the negative feedback effects of TP. Androgenization increases the sensitivity to TP in both males and females.


1988 ◽  
Vol 117 (4_Suppl) ◽  
pp. S191-S192
Author(s):  
M. STOPPOK ◽  
H. SCHRIEFERS ◽  
E. R. LAX

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