Kcnma1 is involved in mitochondrial homeostasis in diabetes‐related skeletal muscle atrophy

Abstract

Uncontrolled diabetes causes a catabolic state with multi-organic complications, of which impairment on skeletal muscle contributes to the damaged mobility. Kcnma1 gene encodes the pore-forming αsubunit of Ca 2+ -and voltage-gated K + channels of large conductance (BK channels), and loss-of-function mutations in Kcnma1 are in regards to impaired myogenesis. Herein, we observed a timecourse reduction of Kcnma1 expression in the tibialis anterior muscles of leptin receptor-deficient (db/db) diabetic mice. To investigate the role of Kcnma1 in diabetic muscle atrophy, muscle-specific knockdown of Kcnma1 was achieved by mice receiving intravenous injection of adeno-associated virus-9 (AAV9)encoding shRNA against Kcnma1 under the muscle creatine kinase (MCK) promoter. Impairment on muscle mass and myogenesis were observed in m/m mice with AAV9-shKcnma1 intervention, while this impairment was more obvious in diabetic db/db mice. Simultaneously, damaged mitochondrial dynamics and biogenesis showed much severer in db/db mice with AAV9-shKcnma1 intervention. RNA sequencing revealed the large transcriptomic changes resulted by Kcnma1 knockdown, and changes in mitochondrial homeostasis-related genes were validated. Besides, the artificial alteration of Kcnma1 in mouse C2C12 myoblasts was achieved with an adenovirus vector. Consistent results were demonstrated How to cite this article: Gao S-Y, Liu Y-P, Wen R, et al. Kcnma1 is involved in mitochondrial homeostasis in diabetes-related skeletal muscle atrophy.