Original articleThe Effect of 30 Minutes of Passive Stretch of the Rat Soleus Muscle on the Myogenic Differentiation, Myostatin, and Atrogin-1 Gene Expressions
Section snippets
Animal Care and Experimental Groups
We used 50 male, 3-month-old Wistar rats (weight, 373±32g). They were housed in plastic cages in a room with controlled environmental conditions and had free access to water and standard food. This study was conducted in accordance with the university approval for the care and use of laboratory animals. The rats were anesthetized by an intraperitoneal injection of xylazine (12mg/kg) and ketamine (95mg/kg) for the stretching of the soleus muscle and muscle dissection. Afterward, they were killed
Muscle Mass
No difference was found in the weight of the soleus muscles among any groups evaluated (table 1).
MyoD Gene Expression
An increase in the myoD gene expression was found 24 hours after a single session of stretch, when compared with the control group (3.4±0.9-fold vs 1±0.06-fold, respectively, ANOVA, P=.001; fig 1A). Subsequently, the myoD gene expression returned to the control levels for all the times evaluated (48h, 72h, 168h). On the other hand, when daily sessions of stretch were performed, the myoD levels
Discussion
The results of this study show that a single session of passive stretch, performed for 30 minutes, induced a 300% increase in myoD mRNA when compared with the control soleus muscle, but did not change the gene expressions of myostatin and atrogin-1. As described in the literature, muscles immobilized in a lengthened position by a plaster cast, present an increase in the myoD gene expression.11, 16, 17, 45 However, in these earlier studies, the muscles were maintained immobilized in a stretched
Conclusions
A single session of passive stretch for 30 minutes increased myoD gene expression, suggesting a hypertrophic effect. However, daily sessions of stretch blocked this effect and increased atrogin-1 gene expression, which has been primarily associated with muscle atrophy. Thus, passive stretch alters both hypertrophic and atrophic skeletal muscle mechanisms. Also, the number of stretch sessions was determinant in both atrogin-1 and myoD responsiveness.
Acknowledgment
We thank Marcia Gislene, BSc, for providing technical assistance.
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Supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (grant nos. 01/13523-4, 01/135221-1, 03/10889-3), Coordenção de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (grant no. 33001014016P7), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (grant no. 501737/2004-9).
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