Reversibility of load-induced changes in myosin heavy chain gene expression

Changes in myosin expression were studied after the removal of functional overload of skeletal and cardiac muscles. In the first set of experiments the chicken slow tonic anterior latissimus dorsi muscle was overloaded by placing a lead band over the wing. In the overloaded muscles the normal developmental progression toward elimination of slow myosin SM-1 was accelerated. No reexpression of SM-1 took place after weight removal. In the second set of experiments rat heart was overloaded by constriction of abdominal aorta. Isomyosin composition and the abundance of mRNA coding for alpha- and beta-myosin heavy chain (MHC) was determined. The overload resulted in downregulation of the alpha-MHC with corresponding upregulation of beta-MHC expression. Debanding resulted in the regression of hypertrophy and rapid return of alpha-MHC to normal values. In contrast, the recovery in beta-MHC expression was much slower and at 7 wk of debanding still remained substantially elevated.