Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 13, 2025
Preparation of the Rat Vocal Fold for Neuromuscular Analyses
Published on: May 15, 2020
The Effects of Menopause on Neuromuscular Parameters of the Rat Vocal Folds
Charles Lenell1,2, Aaron M Johnson1
1New York University Voice Center, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Objectives/Hypothesis:
Menopause adversely affecs power and endurance of the limb muscles. However, despite clinical observations that menopause corresponds to negative changes of the voice, the direct effects of estrogen deprivation on the thyroarytenoid muscles are unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of estrogen deprivation via ovariectomy on three neuromuscular parameters of the thyroarytenoid muscles using a rat model.
Study Design:
Animal model.
Methods:
Cryosections of vocal folds of 20 (10 control and 10 ovariectomized) female rats were stained to label neuromuscular junctions, fiber size, or parvalbumin levels using immunohistochemical techniques and compared between experimental groups.
Results:
The neuromuscular junctions, thyroarytenoid fiber sizes, and parvalbumin levels of the vocal folds were similar between experimental groups.
Conclusions:
The loss of estrogen did not change neuromuscular parameters of the vocal folds of adult female rats; therefore, vocal changes within the outer vibratory layers of the vocal folds may primarily be responsible for clinically observed menopausal vocal changes.
Level Of Evidence:
NA Laryngoscope, 131:1343-1348, 2021.
