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Sexual dimorphism in histological characteristics and contractility of the iliofibularis muscle in the lizard S celoporus torquatus
Author(s) -
Quintana Erendira,
Manjarrez Javier,
MartínezGómez Margarita,
D'Alba Liliana,
RodríguezAntolín Jorge,
Fajardo Victor
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
acta zoologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1463-6395
pISSN - 0001-7272
DOI - 10.1111/azo.12021
Subject(s) - lizard , sexual dimorphism , biology , sauria , contractility , skeletal muscle , anatomy , zoology , endocrinology
The iliofibularis is a hindlimb muscle used in lizard locomotion that is composed of at least three types of fibres: fast‐twitch‐glycolytic ( FG ), fast‐twitch‐oxidative‐glycolytic fibre ( FOG ) and slow‐twitch‐oxidative ( SO ). The striated skeletal muscle is a highly plastic tissue undergoing phenotypic change in response to activity. The lizard S celoporus torquatus has sexual differences associated with microhabitat use, which can be reflected in the physiology and anatomy of the muscle, and thus, in our study, we analysed the morphological and contractile characteristics of the iliofibularis muscle ( IF ) of S . torquatus males and females. We found a larger prevalence of FOG compared with FG and SO fibres in the muscle of both sexes. We also found that males show larger areas of the three types of fibres, develop greater strength but also faster fatigue than females, suggesting that strength is a key functional feature that enables males to perform faster movements (but for shorter periods), associated with the demands of territoriality.