Mimicking exercise in vitro: effects of myotube contractions and mechanical stretch on omics

Abstract

The number of studies using skeletal muscle (SkM) cell culture models to study exercise in vitro are rapidly expanding. Progressively, more comprehensive analysis methods, such as different omics approaches including transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics have been used to examine the intra- and extracellular molecular responses to exercise mimicking stimuli in cultured myotubes. Among other techniques, exercise-like electrical pulse stimulation (EL-EPS) and mechanical stretch of SkM cells are the two most commonly used methods to mimic exercise in vitro. In this mini-review we focus on these two approaches and their effects on the omics of myotubes and/or cell culture media. Furthermore, besides traditional two-dimensional (2D) methods, the use of three-dimensional (3D) SkM approaches are increasing in the field of in vitro exercise mimicry. Our aim with this mini-review is to provide the reader with an up-to-date overview of the 2D and 3D models and the use of omics approaches to study the molecular response to exercise in vitro.

Molecular insights of exercise therapy in disease prevention and treatment

“… 137 Exercise-mimicking interventions such as electrical pulse stimulation or mechanical stretch of skeletal muscle cells additionally enable investigation of exercise effects in vitro. 138 , 139 While such methodological approaches allow for mechanistic conclusions, a major limitation is their poor resemblance of multi-tissue complexity and inter-organ crosstalk, which marks higher living organisms. Although in vitro co-culture models and medium transfer between different cell cultures provide a slight remedy in this regard, animal models depict a pivotal resource to investigate inter-tissue crosstalk triggered by exercise.…”

Electrical Pulse Stimulation Protects C2C12 Myotubes against Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Cytotoxicity via Nrf2/Antioxidant Pathway

“…In the present study, we used electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) on differentiated C2C12 myotubes, a validated in vitro and widely used acute muscle preparation [ 13 , 14 ], to address the hypothesis that a short-term contraction can evoke an antioxidant preconditioning in skeletal myocytes via a mitochondrial-ROS-Nrf2 pathway. Furthermore, we provide evidence to demonstrate that this antioxidant adaptation protects cells against H 2 O 2 -induced toxicity.…”

Electrical Pulse Stimulation Protects C2C12 Myotubes against Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Cytotoxicity via Nrf2/Antioxidant Pathway

“…In the present study, we used electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) on differentiated C2C12 myotubes, a validated in vitro and widely used acute muscle preparation [13,14] to address the hypothesis that a short-term contraction can evoke an antioxidant preconditioning in skeletal myocytes via a mitochondrial-ROS-Nrf2 pathway. Furthermore, we provide evidence to demonstrate that this antioxidant adaptation protects cells against H2O2-induced toxicity.…”