Hackney Anthony C, Elliott-Sale Kirsty J
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Institute of Sport, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Women Sport Phys Act J. 2024 Jan;32(1). doi: 10.1123/wspaj.2023-0073. Epub 2023 Nov 30.
Throughout their lifespans, women undergo unique endocrinological changes relative to their reproductive hormones. The influence of how the female sex steroid hormones have nonreproductive actions is a trending topic of great interest in the exercise-sports sciences, especially among women of reproductive age. Herein, we present several key points on our perspective for moving the study of this topic forward in the future. These are (a) encouraging researchers to pursue high-quality research on female physiology-endocrinology in the exercise-sports science setting, (b) the need for exercise-sports science educational curriculums at the university level to embrace the study of female physiology-endocrinology area, and (c) the need for innovation in the study of this topic. As such, we propose using research design models involving supraphysiological hormonal states in vivo, that is, pregnancy and in vitro fertilization treatment, to gain new insights on sex steroid hormonal actions in women. Herein, we provide the rationale for our recommendations as well as a brief physiological overview of these clinical states. We acknowledge, exercise sports sciences need more studies on women! But there is a need to "think outside the box" on this topic, and we encourage researchers to be unconventional, be bold, think creatively, and contemplate whether these supraphysiological hormonal states might give them insightful information on female physiology and ovarian sex steroid hormones actions.
在整个生命周期中，女性相对于其生殖激素会经历独特的内分泌变化。女性性甾体激素如何产生非生殖作用的影响是运动科学领域一个备受关注的热门话题，尤其是在育龄女性中。在此，我们就未来推动该主题研究提出几个关键观点。这些观点包括：（a）鼓励研究人员在运动科学环境中开展关于女性生理 - 内分泌学的高质量研究；（b）大学层面的运动科学教育课程需要纳入女性生理 - 内分泌学领域的研究；（c）该主题研究需要创新。因此，我们建议使用涉及体内超生理激素状态的研究设计模型，即妊娠和体外受精治疗，以获取关于女性性甾体激素作用的新见解。在此，我们为我们的建议提供理论依据，并对这些临床状态进行简要的生理学概述。我们承认，运动科学需要更多关于女性的研究！但在这个主题上需要“跳出框框思考”，我们鼓励研究人员不拘常规、大胆创新、创造性地思考，并思考这些超生理激素状态是否能为他们提供有关女性生理学和卵巢性甾体激素作用的深刻见解。
