. Lipopolysaccharide regulates proinflammatory cytokine expression in mouse myoblasts and skeletal muscle. Am

The presence of increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the blood is associated with decreased muscle protein synthesis and the erosion of lean body mass in many catabolic conditions. However, little is known regarding the role of endogenous cytokine synthesis in muscle per se. The purpose of the present study was to characterize the cytokine expression profile of skeletal muscle in response to an in vivo injection of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS). Intraperitoneal injection of a nonlethal dose of LPS (1,000 microg/kg Escherichia coli) into male rats increased the mRNA content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL)-1beta in gastrocnemius muscle as early as 1 h; IL-6 mRNA was not increased until 2 h post-LPS. Expression of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta peaked at 2 h (10- and 80-fold, respectively), whereas the increased IL-6 mRNA content (150-fold) peaked later at 4 h. The abundance of all measured cytokine mRNAs in skeletal muscle declined thereafter. The LPS-induced increase in muscle mRNA content for TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1beta was dose-dependent with elevations being seen with as little as 10 microg/kg of LPS (2.5-, 8-, and 9-fold, respectively). In general, pretreatment of rats with dexamethasone attenuated but did not completely prevent the LPS-induced increase in muscle cytokine mRNA. LPS increased muscle TNF-alpha protein content approximately 2-fold and this increase was prevented by pretreatment with dexamethasone. LPS-induced increases in muscle IL-1beta and IL-6 protein were not detected. LPS also produced a 2-fold increase in the mRNA content of the high-mobility-group protein-1, a late-phase cytokine, in muscle at 12-24 h. Finally, although skeletal muscle was found to contain both the toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and TLR4, LPS did not alter the mRNA content of TLR4 and produced a small (50%) but significant increase in TLR2 mRNA. These changes in TLRs were less dramatic than those observed for liver, spleen or cardiac muscle. Collectively these data indicate that skeletal muscle possesses many of the components of the innate immune system, including increases in both early- and late-phase cytokines and the presence of toll-like receptors.

hypothesis of the present study was that exposure of differentiated muscle cells to agonists of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) would increase the mRNA content of the muscle-specific ubiquitin ligases muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx) and muscle RING finger 1 (MuRF1). C 2C12 cells were incubated with incremental doses of 5-aminoimidazol-4-carboximide ribonucleoside (AICAR) or metformin for 24 h. Both MAFbx and MuRF1 mRNA increased dose dependently in response to these AMPK activators. AICAR, metformin, and 2-deoxy-D-glucose produced time-dependent alterations in ubiquitin ligase expression, typified by a biphasic pattern of expression marked by an acute repression followed by a sustained induction. AMPK-activating treatments in conjunction with dexamethasone produced a pronounced synergistic effect on ligase mRNA expression at later time points. This cooperative response occurred in the absence of a dexamethasone-dependent increase in AMPK expression or activity, as determined by immunoblotting for phosphorylation and expression of AMPK␣ and its downstream target acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). These responses elicited by AMPK activation singly or in combination with dexamethasone did not extend to the mRNA expression of the UBR box family E3s UBR1/E3␣I and UBR2/E3␣II. Treatment with the AMPK inhibitor compound C prevented increases in MAFbx and MuRF1 mRNA in response to serum deprivation, as well as AICAR and dexamethasone treatment individually or jointly. Stimulation of AMPK activity in vivo via AICAR injection increased both MAFbx and MuRF1 mRNA in murine skeletal muscle. These data suggest that activation of AMPK in skeletal muscle results in a specific upregulation of MAFbx and MuRF1, responses that are reminiscent of the proposed atrophic transcriptional program executed under various conditions of skeletal muscle wasting. Therefore, AMPK may be a critical component of the intercalated network of signaling pathways governing skeletal muscle atrophy, where its input acts to modify anti-and proatrophic signals to influence gene expression in reaction to catabolic perturbations.atrogin-1; proteolysis; 2-deoxyglucose FOR PROPER GROWTH AND SURVIVAL, all organisms require means of responding to diverse inputs originating from a discontinuous environmental milieu. Failure to both properly integrate these signals and accordingly adjust metabolism within favorable physiological limits may ultimately result in maladaptation, disease, and death. One critical component of this control system in mammalian systems is the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). AMPK functions as a heterotrimer (consisting of a catalytic ␣-subunit and regulatory ␤-and ␥-subunits), which senses alterations in the AMP-to-ATP ratio within cells (15,25,35). In response to energy-depleting stressors (which consequently increase cellular AMP concentrations), AMPK acts to balance energy consumption with production by suppressing ATP-expensive processes and activating ATP-repleting ones. Regulation of its activity is achieved in an elegant fashion...

Aflatoxins are extremely potent carcinogens produced by AspergiUus flavus and AspergiUlus parasiticus. Cloning of genes in the aflatoxin pathway provides a specific approach to understanding the regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis and, subsequently, to the control of aflatoxin contamination of food and feed. This paper reports the isolation of a gene involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis by complementation of an aflatoxinnonproducing mutant with a wild-type genomic cosmid library ofA. flavus. Strain 650-33, blocked in aflatoxin biosynthesis at the afl-2 allele, was complemented by a 32-kb cosmid clone (B9), resulting in the production of aflatoxin. The onset and profile of aflatoxin accumulation was similar for the transformed strain and the wild-type strain (NRRL 3357) of the fungus, indicating that the integrated gene is under the same control as in wild-type strains. Complementation analyses with DNA fragments from B9 indicated that the gene resides within a 2.2-kb fragment. Because this gene complements the mutated afl-2 allele, it was designated afl-2. Genetic evidence obtained from a double mutant showed that afl-2 is involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis before the formation of norsolorinic acid, the first stable intermediate identified in the pathway. Further, metabolite feeding studies with the mutant, transformed, and wild-type cultures and enzymatic activity measurements in cell extracts of these cultures suggest that afl-2 regulates gene expression or the activity of other aflatoxin pathway enzymes. This is the first reported isolation of a gene for aflatoxin biosynthesis in A. flavus.