Rat soleus muscle fiber responses to 14 days of spaceflight and hindlimb suspension

Abstract

Morphological and enzymatic responses in fibers expressing fast, slow, or both types of myosin heavy chain (MHC) were studied in rats after 14 days of spaceflight (COSMOS 2044) or hindlimb suspension. Although the percentage of slow-twitch fibers was unchanged, a higher percentage of fibers that expressed both slow and fast MHC was observed in flight and suspended rats than in synchronous ground-based controls. The soleus was 25 and 34% smaller than control after 14 days of flight and suspension, with the reduction in fiber cross-sectional area (CSA) being greater in slow- than in fast-twitch fibers in both experimental groups. The activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) were not significantly affected by flight or suspension. The total SDH activity (i.e., SDH activity x CSA) decreased significantly in the slow-twitch fibers of the flight and the fast-twitch fibers of the suspended rats, in large part due to fiber atrophy. A shift in MHC expression in 14 and 9% of the fibers in flight and suspended rats occurred without a change in myosin adenosinetriphosphatase activity. The SDH and GPD activities of the fibers that expressed both slow and fast MHC were slightly higher than the slow-twitch fibers and slightly lower than the fast-twitch fibers. These data indicate that events were initiated within 14 days of spaceflight or suspension that began to reconfigure the protein profiles of 9-14% of the slow-twitch fibers from typical slow-twitch toward those of fast-twitch fibers, while all fibers were dramatically losing total protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Neuromuscular Adaptation to Microgravity Environment.

“…Gravitational unloading by exposure to weightlessness [26][27][28][29][43][44][45][46][47] and/or its simulation model, hindlimb suspension [29][30][31][32][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56], causes rapid atrophy in muscles, such as soleus and adductor longus, that are composed predominantly of slow fibers. The cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of both slow-and fasttwitch fibers of rats were less after 14 d of spaceflight and hindlimb suspension than those in the agematched controls [29].…”

“…The cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of both slow-and fasttwitch fibers of rats were less after 14 d of spaceflight and hindlimb suspension than those in the agematched controls [29]. But the degree of atrophy was greater in slow-than fast-twitch fibers [28,29]. Therefore, muscles composed of predominantly slow fibers are more susceptible to atrophy [26,28, 47].…”

“…Exercise-induced metabolic adaptation of muscles is lost when exercise training is stopped [18]. Further, muscle atrophy is induced by denervation [10,19], spinal cord transection [20], joint immobilization [21][22][23], tenotomy [24,25], spaceflight [26][27][28][29], and/or hindlimb suspension [29][30][31][32]. Most of these models are generally presumed to be models of reduced neuromuscular activity.…”

Sarcopenia and Exercise “The State of the Art”

“…Sarcopenia is characterized by a muscle fiber loss in size and number [14][15][16][17]. In muscle atrophy, the fiber size is reduced but the fiber number is maintained [18] and characterized by a transition trend of type I fiber to type II [19,20]. The tissue loss in cachexia involves both fatty and skeletal muscle tissues [21].…”

Clinical definition and diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia

“…The characteristics of muscle fibers can be further differentiated in detail through myosin ATP staining, myosin antibody staining, or myosin heavy-chain (MyHC) isoform quantification by electrophoresis 32,33) . Red muscle tissue is mainly composed of type I fibers, and white muscle tissue type II fibers.…”