Key result
Blood follistatin-to-myostatin ratio strongly correlates with gastrocnemius weight, indicating potential denervated muscle atrophy.
Why the study?
Myostatin expression is closely associated with muscle atrophy after nerve injury, but its potential as a serological indicator of denervated muscle atrophy is unclear.
Does the ratio of myostatin to follistatin in peripheral blood indicate denervated muscle atrophy in rats?
Does the ratio of myostatin to follistatin in peripheral blood indicate denervated muscle atrophy in rats?
The ratio of follistatin to myostatin in peripheral blood may serve as a potential serological biomarker to monitor the progress of denervated muscle atrophy and recovery.
May indicate a serological marker for denervated atrophy in rat models; leaves open human validation and clinical utility.
Myostatin is a secreted negative regulator of muscle mass, and follistatin antagonizes the function of several members of the TGF-b family, including myostatin. Previously, myostatin expression was found to be closely associated with atrophy of the gastrocnemius muscle, showing a linear correlation, after sciatic nerve injury. In this study, we investigated the possibility of myostatin being an indicator of denervated muscle atrophy. ELISA was used to detect the concentration of myostatin and follistatin in sera collected from individual rats at different times after sciatic nerve crush. A strong correlation was shown between the expression level of secreted myostatin in circulation and the wet weight ratio of the gastrocnemius muscle. The ratio of follistatin/myostatin could be used to monitor the progress of target muscle atrophy and recovery. Our study provides a potential serological test to detect denervated muscle atrophy for clinical purposes.
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Wu et al. (2011) studied Denervated muscle atrophy. Myostatin to follistatin ratio was evaluated on Correlation between secreted myostatin in circulation and the wet weight ratio of the gastrocnemius muscle. The ratio of follistatin to myostatin in peripheral blood strongly correlated with the wet weight ratio of the gastrocnemius muscle, serving as a potential indicator of denervated muscle atrophy.
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