NIAMS Scientists Find Biochemical "Switch" Directs Muscle Building

Scientists may soon be able to influence muscle formation more easily as a result of research conducted in the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases’ Laboratory of Muscle Biology. The researchers there and at institutions in California and Italy have found that inhibitors of the enzyme deacetylase can switch the pathway of muscle precursor cells (myoblasts) from simply reproducing themselves to becoming mature cells that form muscle fibers (myotubules).

It has been known for some time that deacetylase prevents the skeletal muscle gene from being expressed, which inhibits myoblasts from forming muscle. The research team has found that under certain conditions, deacetylase inhibitors (DIs) in myoblasts enhance muscle gene expression and muscle fiber formation.

Knowledge of how DIs act against deacetylase is providing important insights on potential ways to correct problems that occur during embryonic muscle development. This research may also lead to methods to induce muscle growth, regeneration and repair in adults.

Simona Iezzi, Ph.D., and Vittorio Sartorelli, M.D., in the NIAMS Muscle Gene Expression Group, along with Pier Lorenzo Puri, M.D., at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and other investigators at the University of Rome, exposed human and mouse myoblasts to DIs while they were dividing or after placement in a medium that stimulates myoblasts to become muscle cells. The researchers found that exposing dividing human and mouse myoblasts to a DI increased the levels of muscle proteins and led to a dramatic increase in the formation of muscle fibers. Similar experiments were done in developing mouse embryos, resulting in an increased number of somites (the regions of the embryo from which muscle cells are derived) and augmented expression of muscle genes.

Dr. Sartorelli’s group continues to investigate how the myoblasts are stimulated to fuse into myotubules. One theory is that the performance of poorly differentiated myoblasts is enhanced when they are recruited by cells with a good capacity to differentiate. Further research will be directed at discovering whether the cells that have been induced to form muscle will restore muscle function when transplanted into a mouse model of muscular dystrophy. In addition, the researchers at the NIAMS Muscle Gene Expression Group plan to expose adult muscle stem cells from a mouse model to DIs to understand their biology and their potential use as therapeutic tools.

The mission of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases, the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research, and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases. For more information about NIAMS, please call (301) 495-4484 or (877) 22-NIAMS (free call) or visit the NIAMS Web site at www.niams.nih.gov.

Iezzi S, Cossu G, Nervi C, Sartorelli V, Puri P. Stage-specific modulation of skeletal myogenesis by inhibitors of nuclear deacetylases. PNAS 2002;99(11):7757-7762.