The effects of low frequency electrical stimulation on satellite cell activity in rat skeletal muscle during hindlimb suspension

BMC Cell Biology

Research Article

Ella W Yeung¹  Bao-Ting Zhang¹  Simon S Yeung¹  Yue Liu²  Yu-Min Wan²  Hong-Yu Zhang²  Hong-Hui Wang²  Shu-Kuan Ling²  Ying-Hui Li² 

[1] Muscle Physiology Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong;Space Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Astronaut Research and Training Centre of China, Beijing, PRChina;

关键词: Satellite Cell;    Soleus Muscle;    Extensor Digitorum Longus;    Extensor Digitorum Longus Muscle;    Hindlimb Suspension;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2121-11-87

 received in 2010-08-16, accepted in 2010-11-18,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe ability of skeletal muscle to grow and regenerate is dependent on resident stem cells called satellite cells. It has been shown that chronic hindlimb unloading downregulates the satellite cell activity. This study investigated the role of low-frequency electrical stimulation on satellite cell activity during a 28 d hindlimb suspension in rats.ResultsMechanical unloading resulted in a 44% reduction in the myofiber cross-sectional area as well as a 29% and 34% reduction in the number of myonuclei and myonuclear domains, respectively, in the soleus muscles (P < 0.001 vs the weight-bearing control). The number of quiescent (M-cadherin+), proliferating (BrdU+ and myoD+), and differentiated (myogenin+) satellite cells was also reduced by 48-57% compared to the weight-bearing animals (P < 0.01 for all). Daily application of electrical stimulation (2 × 3 h at a 20 Hz frequency) partially attenuated the reduction of the fiber cross-sectional area, satellite cell activity, and myonuclear domain (P < 0.05 for all). Extensor digitorum longus muscles were not significantly altered by hindlimb unloading.ConclusionThis study shows that electrical stimulation partially attenuated the decrease in muscle size and satellite cells during hindlimb unloading. The causal relationship between satellite cell activation and electrical stimulation remain to be established.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Zhang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.