title: Sexual dimorphism in the human vocal fold innervation.
abstract: This study investigated the sexual dimorphism in the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle, which control the vocal fold. The RLN and TA were bilaterally studied in human specimens obtained from necropsies (seven men and seven women). Analysis of the morphometric parameters showed that the RLN of the men were significantly larger, as shown by the intraperineural area (42.5%) (P=0.006), total number of fibers (38.0%) (P=0.0002), axonal area (34.3%) (P=0.0001), axonal diameter (19.0%) (P=0.0001), and the area of the nerve occupied by myelinated fibers (34.9%) (P=0.001). By contrast, in women, our results showed that the area of the RLN occupied by endoneurial connective tissue was larger (5.7%) (P=0.001). Estimation of the fiber area and shape coefficient showed that the histologic organization of TA is similar in men and women. These results may contribute toward enhancing our understanding about the voice neurobiology.
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors: Deivis
authors: D
authors: de Campos
authors: Joel Henrique
authors: JH
authors: Ellwanger
authors: Patrícia Severo
authors: PS
authors: do Nascimento
authors: Helen Tais
authors: HT
authors: da Rosa
authors: Lisiani
authors: L
authors: Saur
authors: Geraldo Pereira
authors: GP
authors: Jotz
authors: Léder Leal
authors: LL
authors: Xavier
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007821:Laryngeal Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012009:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000294:innervation*