title: Role of transforming growth factor-β1 in the process of fibrosis of denervated skeletal muscle.
abstract: In order to investigate the biological function of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) during fibrosis in denervated skeletal muscle, we recruited sciatic nerve injury model of SD rats in which denervated gastrocnemius was isolated for analysis. At different time points after operation, denervated muscle was examined by several methods. Masson trichrome staining showed morphological changes of denervated skeletal muscle. Quantitative RT-PCR detected the rapid increase of TGF-β1 expression at mRNA level after nerve injury. It was found that a peak of TGF-β1 mRNA expression appeared one week post-operation. The expression of collagen I (COL I) mRNA was up-regulated in the nerve injury model as well, and reached highest level two weeks post-injury. Immunoblot revealed similar expression pattern of TGF-β1 and COL I in denervated muscles at protein level. In addition, we found that the area of the gastrocnemius muscle fiber was decreased gradually along with increased interstitital fibrosis. Interestingly, this pathological change could be prevented, at least partly, by local injection of TGF-β1 antibodies, which could be contributed to the reduced production of COL I by inhibiting function of TGF-β1. Taken together, in this study, we demonstrated that the expression of TGF-β1 was increased significantly in denervated skeletal muscle, which might play a crucial role during muscle fibrosis after nerve transection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fanbin
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jianghai
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Juan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Weng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuxiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yanhua
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China. zhenbingch@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhenbing
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D024042:Collagen Type I; C508962:Tgfb1 protein, rat; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1