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Piasecki, J. 
ORCID: 0000-0001-9758-6295, Guo, Y., Jones, E.J., Phillips, B.E., Stashuk, D.W., Atherton, P.J. and Piasecki, M.,
2023.
Menstrual cycle associated alteration of vastus lateralis motor unit function.
Sports Medicine - Open, 9: 97.
ISSN 2199-1170
Abstract
Background: Estrogen and progesterone are the primary female sex hormones and have net excitatory and inhibitory effects, respectively, on neuronal function. Fluctuating concentrations across the menstrual cycle has led to several lines of research in relation to neuromuscular function and performance; however evidence from animal and cell culture models has yet to be demonstrated in human motor units coupled with quantification of circulating hormones. Intramuscular electromyography was used to record motor unit potentials and corresponding motor unit potential trains from the vastus lateralis of nine eumenorrheic females during the early follicular, ovulation and mid luteal phases of the menstrual cycle, alongside assessments of neuromuscular performance. Multi-level regression models were applied to explore effects of time and of contraction level. Statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05.
Results: Knee extensor maximum voluntary contraction, jump power, force steadiness, and balance did not differ across the menstrual phases (all p > 0.4). Firing rate of low threshold motor units (10% maximum voluntary contraction) was lower during the ovulation and mid luteal phases (β = − 0.82 Hz, p < 0.001), with no difference in motor unit potentials analysed from 25% maximum voluntary contraction contractions. Motor unit potentials were more complex during ovulation and mid luteal phase (p < 0.03), with no change in neuromuscular junction transmission instability (p > 0.3).
Conclusions: Assessments of neuromuscular performance did not differ across the menstrual cycle. The suppression of low threshold motor unit firing rate during periods of increased progesterone may suggest a potential inhibitory effect and an alteration of recruitment strategy; however this had no discernible effect on performance. These findings highlight contraction level-dependent modulation of vastus lateralis motor unit function over the eumenorrheic cycle, occurring independently of measures of performance.
| Item Type: | Journal article | ||||||
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| Publication Title: | Sports Medicine - Open | ||||||
| Creators: | Piasecki, J., Guo, Y., Jones, E.J., Phillips, B.E., Stashuk, D.W., Atherton, P.J. and Piasecki, M. | ||||||
| Publisher: | Springer | ||||||
| Date: | 24 October 2023 | ||||||
| Volume: | 9 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2199-1170 | ||||||
| Identifiers: |
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| Rights: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. | ||||||
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Science and Technology | ||||||
| Record created by: | Jonathan Gallacher | ||||||
| Date Added: | 01 Nov 2023 16:21 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2023 16:21 | ||||||
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50206 |
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