Exercise promotes growth and vascularization of fast skeletal muscle by activating myogenic and angiogenic transcriptional programs in adult zebrafish

ABSTRACT: The adult skeletal muscle is a plastic tissue with a remarkable ability to adapt to different levels of activity by altering its excitability, its contractile and metabolic phenotype and its mass. Knowledge on the mechanisms responsible for muscle mass comes primarily from models of muscle inactivity or denervation or from genetic models of muscle diseases. Given that the underlying exercise-induced transcriptional mechanisms regulating muscle mass are not fully understood, here we investigated the cellular and molecular adaptive mechanisms taking place in fast skeletal muscle of adult zebrafish in response to swimming. Fish were trained at low swimming speed (0.1 m/s; non-exercised) or at their optimal swimming speed (0.4 m/s; exercised). A significant increase in fibre cross-sectional area (1,290 ± 88 vs. 1,665 ± 106 μm2) and vascularization (298 ± 23 vs. 458 ± 38 capillaries/mm2) was found in exercised over non-exercised fish. Gene expression profiling evidenced the transcriptional activation of a series of complex networks of extracellular and intracellular signaling molecules and pathways involved in the regulation of muscle mass, myogenesis and angiogenesis, many (e.g. BMP, TGF, FGF, Notch, Wnt, MEF2, Shh, EphrinB2) not previously associated with exercise-induced contractile activity, and that recapitulate in part the transcriptional events occurring during skeletal muscle regeneration. These results demonstrate that fibre hypertrophy is responsible for the growth-promoting effects of exercise accompanied by a switch to a more oxidative capacity of white muscle fibres to fuel the increased energy demands. Importantly, our study identified novel molecular mechanisms regulating muscle mass and function in vertebrates.

ORGANISM(S): Danio rerio

PROVIDER: GSE58929 | GEO | 2014/12/23

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA253940

REPOSITORIES: GEO