Expression pattern of myostatin in gastrocnemius muscle of rats after sciatic nerve crush injury

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Abstract
Myostatin is a strong inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate myostatin expression profiles during denervation‐induced muscle atrophy in order to understand the relationship between myostatin expression and muscle atrophy. We constructed a sciatic nerve crush model, undertook morphometric analyses of rat gastrocnemius muscle to evaluate the degree of muscle atrophy, and utilized a real‐time quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and Western blot analysis to measure myostatin mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively, in the gastrocnemius at different time‐points after nerve injury. Muscle atrophy changed in a parabola‐like manner from day 1 to day 28 after nerve injury, with a maximum value at day 14. During this time, myostatin expression changed in the reverse manner, with myostatin mRNA or protein expression gradually increasing from days 1–14, and then gradually declining to day 28, when the normal level was reached. Statistical analyses further provided evidence for a significant negative linear correlation between myostatin expression and muscle atrophy within a 28‐day period after nerve injury. Our study thus describes the expression pattern of myostatin in response to a specific type of muscle atrophy and raises the possibility of developing myostatin as a therapeutic target for future clinical applications. Muscle Nerve, 2007