ArticleGeroScience2022
Circulating testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone are associated with individual motor unit features in untrained and highly active older men.
Article in GeroScience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictive role of the muscle quality index for testosterone deficiency in adult males based on interpretable machine learning methods.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Sex disparities of human neuromuscular decline in older humans.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Characterising sex-related differences in lower- and higher-threshold motor unit behaviour through high-density surface electromyography.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Common synaptic inputs and persistent inward currents of vastus lateralis motor units are reduced in older male adults.GeroScience · 2024Article
- Cross-education: motor unit adaptations mediate the strength increase in non-trained muscles following 8 weeks of unilateral resistance training.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- Ageing and exercise-induced motor unit remodelling.The Journal of physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Long-term exercise training has been considered as an effective strategy to counteract age-related hormonal declines and minimise muscle atrophy. However, human data relating circulating hormone levels with motor nerve function are scant. The aims of the study were to explore associations between circulating sex hormone levels and motor unit (MU) characteristics in older men, including masters athletes competing in endurance and power events. Forty-three older men (mean ± SD age: 69.9 ± 4.6 years) were studied based on competitive status. The serum concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), total testosterone (T) and estradiol were quantified using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Intramuscular electromyographic signals were recorded from vastus lateralis (VL) during 25% of maximum voluntary isometric contractions and processed to extract MU firing rate (FR), and motor unit potential (MUP) features. After adjusting for athletic status, MU FR was positively associated with DHEA levels (p = 0.019). Higher testosterone and estradiol were associated with lower MUP complexity; these relationships remained significant after adjusting for athletic status (p = 0.006 and p = 0.019, respectively). Circulating DHEA was positively associated with MU firing rate in these older men. Higher testosterone levels were associated with reduced MUP complexity, indicating reduced electrophysiological temporal dispersion, which is related to decreased differences in conduction times along axonal branches and/or MU fibres. Although evident in males only, this work highlights the potential of hormone administration as a therapeutic interventional strategy specifically targeting human motor units in older age.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.