Androgens (such as testosterone) have been shown to increase lean body mass and reduce fat body mass in men through activation of androgen receptors (AR). While this suggests a potential clinical use for androgens, attempts at utilization of this class of hormones as a therapeutic are limited by side effects due to indiscriminate AR activation in various tissues. Thus, a greater understanding of the tissues and cells involved in promoting these changes would be beneficial. Here we show that selective overexpression of AR in muscle cells of transgenic (HSA-AR) rodents both increases lean muscle mass and significantly reduces fat mass in males. Similar effects can be induced in HSA-AR females treated with testosterone. Metabolic analyses of HSA-AR males show that these animals demonstrate increased O2 consumption and hypermetabolism. Thus, targeted activation of AR in muscle regulates body composition and metabolism, suggesting a novel target for drug development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/25577 |
| Date | 31 December 2010 |
| Creators | Fernando, Shannon M. |
| Contributors | Monks, D. Ashley |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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