Monks D Ashley, Holmes Melissa M
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2018 Jan;204(1):51-60. doi: 10.1007/s00359-017-1222-4. Epub 2017 Oct 23.
Sexual dimorphism in skeletal muscle is prominent in mammals, with males typically having larger and stronger muscles than females. Furthermore, neuromuscular systems with sexual functions are remarkably sexually dimorphic in a wide variety of vertebrates. Endocrine mechanisms are of central importance for sexual differentiation of these traits, and anabolic actions of gonadal testosterone have been intensively studied. Here we review the relationship between androgen receptor (AR) and sexual differentiation of neuromuscular systems. We focus our review on the hypotheses that sexual dimorphism and androgen responsiveness of neuromuscular systems is a function of the amount of AR expressed by muscle and that AR in muscle is a key mechanism on which evolution acts to shape individual and species differences in reproductive behavior.
骨骼肌的两性差异在哺乳动物中很显著，雄性的肌肉通常比雌性更大更强壮。此外，具有性功能的神经肌肉系统在多种脊椎动物中也存在明显的两性差异。内分泌机制对于这些性状的性别分化至关重要，性腺睾酮的合成代谢作用已得到深入研究。在此，我们综述雄激素受体（AR）与神经肌肉系统性别分化之间的关系。我们的综述聚焦于以下假说：神经肌肉系统的两性差异和雄激素反应性是肌肉中AR表达量的函数，并且肌肉中的AR是进化塑造个体和物种生殖行为差异的关键机制。
