Key result
Skeletal muscle-specific deletion of the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPRC) in mice did not significantly improve maximal running velocity or endurance running time compared to controls.
Why the study?
The effects of natriuretic peptides on metabolism and muscle function in skeletal muscle were not well understood, and it was unknown whether enhancing signaling by preventing clearance via NPRC deletion would improve exercise performance.
Does skeletal muscle-specific deletion of Nprc improve exercise performance in mice?
Does skeletal muscle-specific deletion of Nprc improve exercise performance in mice?
Skeletal muscle-specific deletion of the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPRC) does not improve exercise performance in mice, indicating that enhancing NP signaling via this pathway in muscle is insufficient to boost exercise capacity.
Skeletal muscle NPRC deletion does not enhance exercise performance in mice; leaves open NP metabolic roles in humans or other conditions.
Natriuretic peptides (NP), including atrial, brain, and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP), play essential roles in regulating blood pressure, cardiovascular homeostasis, and systemic metabolism. One of the major metabolic effects of NP is manifested by their capacity to stimulate lipolysis and the thermogenesis gene program in adipocytes, however, in skeletal muscle their effects on metabolism and muscle function are not as well understood. There are three NP receptors (NPR): NPRA, NPRB, and NPRC, and all three NPR genes are expressed in skeletal muscle and C2C12 myocytes. In C2C12 myocytes treatment with either ANP, BNP, or CNP evokes the cGMP signaling pathway. Since NPRC functions as a clearance receptor and the amount of NPRC in a cell type determines the signaling strength of NPs, we generated a genetic model with Nprc gene deletion in skeletal muscle and tested whether enhancing NP signaling by preventing its clearance in skeletal muscle would improve exercise performance in mice. Under sedentary conditions, Nprc skeletal muscle knockout (MKO) mice showed comparable exercise performance to their floxed littermates in terms of maximal running velocity and total endurance running time. Eight weeks of voluntary running-wheel training in a young cohort significantly increased exercise performance, but no significant differences were observed in MKO compared with floxed control mice. Furthermore, 6-weeks of treadmill training in a relatively aged cohort also increased exercise performance compared with their baseline values, but again there were no differences between genotypes. In summary, our study suggests that NP signaling is potentially important in skeletal myocytes but its function in skeletal muscle in vivo needs to be further studied in additional physiological conditions or with new genetic mouse models.
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Jia et al. (2023) studied Exercise performance. Skeletal muscle deletion of natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (Nprc MKO) vs. Floxed littermate control mice was evaluated on Exercise performance (maximal running velocity and total endurance running time) (p=>0.05). Skeletal muscle-specific deletion of the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPRC) in mice did not significantly improve maximal running velocity or endurance running time compared to controls.
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