Ablation of VDR Induced Atrophy of Skeletal Muscle via Locally Affecting the Renin-Angiotensin System
Wen-Xiong Li, fasebj.2021.35.S1.01903
Objective
Our previous studies demonstrated that vitamin D is a vital protector against tissue injuries by locally suppressing renin-angiotensin system (RAS). It is known that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a range of muscle disorders, such as muscle atrophy. This study aimed to investigate the biological role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in skeletal muscle and the underlying mechanism using a mice model with deletion of VDR associated with dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy.
Materials and Methods
The wild type and VDR(-/-) mice were treated with vehicle and dexamethasone (i.p., once daily) for 10 consecutive days. The murine myoblast cell line C2C12 and the skeletal muscle satellite cells were applied as in vitro models in this study.
Results
Treatment with the angiotensin II (Ang II) type 1 receptor blocker olmesartan eliminated Ang II-induced atrophy of myotube cells, reflected by alleviating myotube cell atrophy, suggesting that Ang II could aggravate atrophy of skeletal muscle. The ablation of VDR in muscle satellite cells worsened the phenotype of muscle atrophy induced by Ang II. After challenging to dexamethasone, VDR-null mice exhibited more severe amyotrophy compared with wild-type counterparts, manifested by significant decrease in muscle wet weight coefficient of the tibialis anterior muscle and gastrocnemius as well as the reduction of limb grip and weight-loading swimming time. Similarly, the dystrophin fluorescence staining and the haematoxylin eosin (H&E) staining showed much more decrease in cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle in the VDR-null mice in a comparison with the counterparts. MAFbx and MuRF1 are two E3 ubiquitin ligases that are important regulators for ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation in skeletal muscle, while myogenic differentiation-1 (MyoD) and myosin heavy chain (MHC) are necessary to maintain myocytes proliferation and differentiation. VDR ablation significantly accelerated the up-regulation of MAFbx and MuRF1 proteins and down-regulated protein expression of MyoD and MHC in skeletal muscle tissue of mice with muscle atrophy.
Conclusion
These results provided evidences that VDR might attenuate skeletal muscle atrophy at least in part by suppressing the renin-angiotensin system.