Post-tetanic decurarization in developing cat leg muscles.
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The effects of denervation and of direct electrical stimulation of denervated muscle upon the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) spots in the fast avian muscle posterior latissimus dorsi have been investigated. Denervation at day 2 after hatching leads to a disappearance of the junctional AChR clusters and to a marked decrease of AChE spots. Direct electrical stimulation of denervated muscle allows the maintenance of AChR clusters and partly prevents the loss of AChE spots. When AChR cluster and post-synaptic AChE have disappeared in a denervated muscle, muscle activity induced by direct stimulation is unable to induce their accumulation.
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Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, type 2A (LGMD 2A), is an autosomal recessive disorder that causes late-onset muscle-wasting, and is due to mutations in the muscle-specific protease calpain 3 (C3). Although LGMD 2A would be a feasible candidate for gene therapy, the reported instability of C3 in vitro raised questions about the potential of obtaining a stable, high-level expression of C3 from a transgene in vivo. We have generated transgenic (Tg) mice with muscle-specific overexpression of full-length C3 or C3 isoforms, which arise from alternative splicing, to test whether stable expression of C3 transgenes could occur in vivo. Unexpectedly, we found that full-length C3 can be overexpressed at high levels in vivo, without toxicity. In addition, we found that Tg expressing C3 lacking exon 6, an isoform expressed embryonically, have muscles that resemble regenerating or developing muscle. Tg expressing C3 lacking exon 15 shared this morphology in the soleus, but not other muscles. Assays of inflammation or muscle membrane damage indicated that the Tg muscles were not degenerative, suggesting that the immature muscle resulted from a developmental block rather than degeneration and regeneration. These studies show that C3 can be expressed stably in vivo from a transgene, and indicate that alternatively spliced C3 isoforms should not be used in gene-therapy applications because they impair proper muscle development.
To test the effect of low ambient temperature on muscular strain and possible development of muscle injuries, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 35) were exercised at a speed of 15 m min-1 on a treadmill at a 6 degrees inclination for 1.5 h in a warm (22 degrees C) or a cold (-10 degrees C) environment. Blood and tissue samples were collected 0 and 48 h postexercise. Blood glucose, lactate, pyruvate, cortisol, epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) were determined to investigate the effect on energy metabolism. To estimate the degree of physical strain, possible muscle injury and regenerative processes of muscles in response to exercise in the cold, serum creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), muscle beta-glucuronidase and prolyl-4-hydroxylase (PH) activities were measured. In addition, histology of the hindlimb muscles m. soleus and m. tibialis anterior was examined. In general, the circulating level of metabolic substrates during exercise were unaffected by the exercise and independent of ambient temperature. Plasma cortisol increased significantly during exercise (P < 0.01), but was unaffected by the thermal strain. Of the myocellular enzymes, serum CK increased by 100% (P < 0.01) and LDH by 93% (P < 0.05) during exercise in the cold compared with exercise in warm, indicating a higher physical strain. However, exercise in the cold did not result in muscle injuries as judged by the unaltered muscular beta-glucuronidase, PH levels and muscle morphology. It is concluded that the exercise type and intensity used caused stress that was independent of the ambient temperature. In addition, the rats were able to maintain unaltered circulating levels of energy substrates also in the cold. Finally, exercise in the cold increased muscular strain but did not result in muscle injuries.
In the masticatory muscles, neuromuscular spindles have a very important role in controlling the jaw movement since they act as stretch receptors in skeletal muscles. The continuous intake of fine-grained diet which is easily chewable leads to degeneration of the sensory endings of Ia fibers in many muscle spindles of the mouse masseter muscle in only 120 d after birth.
Cremaster muscles are present in both male and female developing and adult marsupial mammals. They are complex structures and composed of several distinct bundles of striated muscle fibers provided with: (1) a distinct and extensive innervation; (2) a distinct blood vascular supply; (3) a distinct tendineous origin on the anterosuperior iliac spine; and (4) distinct target structures. The muscles thus seem to be separate anatomical entities and not a part of one or more of the layers of the ventral abdominal wall musculature. Cremaster muscles in males are elongated, are larger than in females, and for the most part are a component of the funiculus spermaticus. They insert on the distal part of the tunica vaginalis. The distal parts of the muscles in females are flattened ("fan shaped") and insert over a broad area on the dorsal borders of the mammary glands. Muscles in males have no relation whatsoever to the male mammary glandular rudiments. Muscles in females are attached at the base of the uterine round ligament. The remarkable sex difference in target structures of marsupial cremaster muscles becomes noticeable during perinatal life when outgrowing muscles take a different path in males and females. The initial appearance of this sexually dimorphic trait precedes the sexual differentiation of the genital ducts and external genitalia. In fetal males, the cremaster muscles grow in the direction of the site where scrotal bulges initially appear in the subcutaneous layers and later on the inguinal skin surface. They also take the gubernacular core of the ventral abdominal wall and the attached peritoneal epithelium with them during this outgrowth process. Consequently, this results in the development of a slitlike evagination of the abdominal lumen as the primary step to development of the processus vaginalis, while the testis and adjacent mesonephros and its duct are still attached to the posterior abdominal wall. In fetal females, the outgrowing cremaster muscles pass along the gubernacular core and, subsequently, this structure develops further as the tip (attached to the tubo-uterine junction) of the intra-abdominally protruding and further developing uterine round ligament. The female cremaster muscles grow further into caudal direction to shape a dorsal border of the developing mammary glands. The early onset of this sexually dimorphic outgrowth of cremaster muscles indicates that the "classical hormones" of sexual differentiation (anti-Müllerian hormone [AMH] and steroidal androgens) are not involved in this process. It could thus depend on primary genetic control with male development associated with the male-limited activity of genes on the Y-chromosomes and female development as the default process. Alternatively, the process in males could be under the control of an as yet unidentified third fetal testicular hormone involved in sexual differentiation processes which must then show an unexpectely early (i.e., perinatal) onset of its secretion.
The reduced release of Ca2+ from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is considered a major determinant of muscle fatigue. In the present study, we investigated whether the presence of dantrolene, an established inhibitor of SR Ca2+ release, or caffeine, a drug facilitating SR Ca2+ release, modifies muscle fatigue development. Accordingly, the effects of Ca2+ release modulators were analyzed in vitro in mouse fast-twitch [extensor digitorum longus (EDL)] and slow-twitch (soleus) muscles, fatigued by repeated short tetani (40 Hz for 300 ms, 0.5 s(-1) in soleus and 60 Hz for 300 ms, 0.3 s(-1) in EDL, for 6 min). Caffeine produced a substantial increase of tetanic tension of both EDL and soleus muscles, whereas dantrolene decreased tetanic tension only in EDL muscle. In both EDL and soleus muscles, 5 microM dantrolene did not affect fatigue development, whereas 20 microM dantrolene produced a positive staircase during the first 3 min of stimulation in EDL muscle and a slowing of fatigue development in soleus muscle. The development of the positive staircase was abolished by the addition of 15 microM ML-7, a selective inhibitor of myosin light chain kinase. On the other hand, caffeine caused a larger and faster loss of tension in both EDL and soleus muscles. The results seem to indicate that the changes in fatigue profile induced by caffeine or dantrolene are mainly due to the changes in the initial tetanic tension caused by the drugs, with the resulting changes in the level of contraction-dependent factors of fatigue, rather than to changes in the SR Ca2+ release during fatigue development.
BACKGROUND: Adult tumors can be characterized by hypermethylation of CpG islands associated with 5'-upstream and coding regions of specific genes. This hypermethylation can also be part of the aging process. In contrast, much less is known about gene hypermethylation in childhood cancers, where methylation changes are not part of the aging process but likely represent developmental dysregulation. PAX3 is an important gene in muscle development and muscle-producing neoplasms such as rhabdomyosarcomas. PROCEDURES: We examined the methylation status of a PAX3 5'-CpG island in rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes and in normal fetal skeletal muscle. PAX3 methylation was analyzed in 15 embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas, 12 alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas, and in six normal skeletal muscle samples, using semi-quantitative PCR analysis of DNA digested with methyl-sensitive restriction enzymes. RESULTS: The CpG island in the upstream region of the human PAX3 gene was hypermethylated in the majority of ERMS examined (13 of 15 tumors, mean of 52% methylation), whereas most ARMS (9 of 12 tumors) and all normal muscle samples showed relative hypomethylation (both 18% mean methylation). Various CpG sites differ in contribution to overall PAX3 CpG island methylation, with methylation at a HaeII site being inversely correlated with PAX3 expression. CONCLUSIONS: PAX3 CpG island methylation appears to distinguish embryonal subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma from alveolar, and methylation at certain sites within this CpG island is inversely correlated with PAX3 expression. In addition to exemplifying developmental dysregulation, methylation of PAX3 has potential in the development of an epigenetic profile for the diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma.