title: Expression pattern of myostatin in gastrocnemius muscle of rats after sciatic nerve crush injury.
abstract: Myostatin is a strong inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate myostatin expression profiles during denervation-induced muscle atrophy in order to understand the relationship between myostatin expression and muscle atrophy. We constructed a sciatic nerve crush model, undertook morphometric analyses of rat gastrocnemius muscle to evaluate the degree of muscle atrophy, and utilized a real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis to measure myostatin mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively, in the gastrocnemius at different time-points after nerve injury. Muscle atrophy changed in a parabola-like manner from day 1 to day 28 after nerve injury, with a maximum value at day 14. During this time, myostatin expression changed in the reverse manner, with myostatin mRNA or protein expression gradually increasing from days 1-14, and then gradually declining to day 28, when the normal level was reached. Statistical analyses further provided evidence for a significant negative linear correlation between myostatin expression and muscle atrophy within a 28-day period after nerve injury. Our study thus describes the expression pattern of myostatin in response to a specific type of muscle atrophy and raises the possibility of developing myostatin as a therapeutic target for future clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neurogeneration, Nantong University, 19 Qixiu Road, Nantong, Jiangsu Province 226001, PR China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Donglei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chenxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Xiaosong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D055435:Myostatin; D009409:Nerve Crush; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries*; D020426:Sciatic Neuropathy / Q000150:complications*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016138:Walking
chemical_list: C525913:Mstn protein, rat; D055435:Myostatin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta