Dietary Protein Intake Modulates Satellite Cell Myostatin Expression Following A Bout Of Resistance Exercise
Tim Snijders Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 45(5S):497 , May 2013.
Skeletal muscle satellite cells (SCs) play a significant role in the myogenic adaptive response to exercise. It remains to be established whether nutrition plays a role in SC activation and/or signaling in response to exercise.
PURPOSE: In the present study we assessed whether dietary protein alters the SC response to a single bout of resistance-type exercise.
METHODS: Twenty healthy young (21±2y) males were randomly assigned to consume a controlled diet that provided either 1.2 g protein · kg BW-1· d-1 (normal protein diet; NPD) or 0.1 g protein · kg BW-1· d-1 (low protein diet; LPD). On the second day of the controlled diet, subjects performed a single bout of resistance-type exercise. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle were collected prior to exercise and after 12, 24, 48, and 72h of post-exercise recovery. Muscle fiber type-specific SC content and activation status were determined using immunohistochemical staining. In addition, myostatin protein expression was determined at the different time points using western blotting.
RESULTS: The number of SCs per muscle fiber increased significantly by 26±8 and 23±12% (NPD) and 39±6 and 26±8% (LPD) following 72h of post-exercise recovery in type I and type II muscle fibers, respectively (P<0.05), with no difference between groups. The number of myostatin+ SCs decreased significantly at 12, 24 and 48h after exercise cessation (P<0.05), with no difference between groups. Yet, whereas the number of myostatin+ SCs returned to baseline in the type II muscle fibers on the NPD after 72h of recovery, the number remained low on the
LPD. Myostatin protein expression remained unchanged at 12 and 24h after the single bout of resistance exercise, in both groups. However, at the 48 and 72h time point myostatin protein expression was elevated ~2 fold on the NPD (P<0.05), whereas no change was observed on the LPD.
CONCLUSION: Dietary protein intake modulates SC activation and myostatin expression following a single bout of exercise in humans. This is the first study to demonstrate that nutrition may modulate the regulation of SCs.