Estrogen, testosterone, and sequential movement in men

Abstract

Behavioral and physiological data suggest that the striatal dopaminergic system is important in the production and execution of sequential movements. Striatal function is also modulated by sex hormones, and previous studies show that estradiol is related to sequential movement in women. The authors examined whether sex hormones are involved in the production of sequential movement in healthy older and younger men. Testosterone was modified for a 6-week period such that levels in older men matched those of younger men, the conversion of testosterone to estradiol was blocked, the production of testosterone was blocked, or the men received no treatment (placebo). Sequential movement was measured before and after hormone treatment. Older men were slower and more accurate than younger men on the sequential movement task pre- and posttreatment. Hormone manipulation had no effect on movement speed. Hormone levels were not correlated with sequential movement performance in either older or younger men, suggesting that sex hormones do not modulate sequential movement in men, and hormone replacement may not restore a loss of sequential movement ability in elderly men or men with Parkinson's disease.

Figure 1

The average total movement time (TMT) scores pre/post-treatment for older men (A) and younger men (B). Men became faster at the task from pre-treatment to post-treatment. There was no effect of treatment group on TMT.