Dietary astaxanthin supplementation attenuates disuse-induced muscle atrophy and myonuclear apoptosis in the rat soleus muscle

Abstract

Extended periods of skeletal muscle disuse results in muscle atrophy and weakness. Currently, no therapeutic treatment is available for the prevention of this problem. Nonetheless, growing evidence suggests that prevention of disuse-induced oxidative stress in inactive muscle fibers can delay inactivity-induced muscle wasting. Therefore, this study tested the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with the antioxidant astaxanthin would protect against disuse muscle atrophy, in part, by prevention of myonuclear apoptosis. Wistar rats (8 weeks old) were divided into control (CT, n = 9), hindlimb unloading (HU, n = 9), and hindlimb unloading with astaxanthin (HU + AX, n = 9) groups. Following 2 weeks of dietary supplementation, rats in the HU and HU + AX groups were exposed to unloading for 7 days. Seven-day unloading resulted in reduced soleus muscle weight and myofiber cross-sectional area (CSA) by ~30 and ~47 %, respectively. Nonetheless, relative muscle weights and CSA of the soleus muscle in the HU + AX group were significantly greater than those of the HU group. Moreover, astaxanthin prevented disuse-induced increase in the number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive nuclei. We conclude that astaxanthin supplementation prior to and during hindlimb unloading attenuates soleus muscle atrophy, in part, by suppressing myonuclear apoptosis.

Astaxanthin intake attenuates muscle atrophy caused by immobilization in rats

“…These results are consistent with our recent study using rat hindlimb unloading model (Yoshihara et al. ) and the results from administration of other antioxidants during muscular inactivity (Ikemoto et al. ; Sugiura et al.…”

“…In reference to astaxanthin and skeletal muscle, Aoi et al (2003) provided the first evidence that astaxanthin accumulated in mouse skeletal muscle after 3 weeks of dietary intake of astaxanthin, and this treatment attenuated oxidative damage to lipids and DNA, as well as expression of inflammatory mediators, in the muscle tissue after intense exercise. We and others also showed that astaxanthin supplementation reduced up-regulation of CuZn-SOD expression and/or accumulation of ROS in response to hindlimb unloading with or without attenuating soleus muscle atrophy (Kanazashi et al 2013(Kanazashi et al , 2014Yoshihara et al 2016). These findings suggest that dietary astaxanthin intake may be an effective countermeasure against muscle damage and disuse-induced muscle atrophy.…”

“…, ; Yoshihara et al. ). Although the underlying mechanism of the antioxidant action of astaxanthin on skeletal muscle remains unclear, it appears that astaxanthin can act as scavenger and/or quencher of ROS and free radicals (Kurashige et al.…”

“…Furthermore, we recently reported that dietary astaxanthin intake 2 week prior to and during hindlimb unloading attenuated soleus muscle atrophy in rats (Yoshihara et al. ). In this study, therefore, dietary intake of each experimental food was started 14 days before immobilization.…”

“…, ; Yoshihara et al. ). These findings suggest that dietary astaxanthin intake may be an effective countermeasure against muscle damage and disuse‐induced muscle atrophy.…”