Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a neuromuscular disease caused by the expansion of a polyglutamine tract in the androgen receptor (AR). The mechanism by which expansion of polyglutamine in AR causes muscle atrophy is unknown. Here, we investigated pathological pathways underlying muscle atrophy in SBMA knock-in mice and patients. We show that glycolytic muscles were more severely affected than oxidative muscles in SBMA knock-in mice. Muscle atrophy was associated with early-onset, progressive glycolytic-to-oxidative fiber-type switch. Whole genome microarray and untargeted lipidomic analyses revealed enhanced lipid metabolism and impaired glycolysis selectively in muscle. These metabolic changes occurred before denervation and were associated with a concurrent enhancement of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, which induced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1 alpha (PGC1α) expression. At later stages of disease, we detected mitochondrial membrane depolarization, enhanced transcription factor EB (TFEB) expression and autophagy, and mTOR-induced protein synthesis. Several of these abnormalities were detected in the muscle of SBMA patients. Feeding knock-in mice a high-fat diet (HFD) restored mTOR activation, decreased the expression of PGC1α, TFEB, and genes involved in oxidative metabolism, reduced mitochondrial abnormalities, ameliorated muscle pathology, and extended survival. These findings show early-onset and intrinsic metabolic alterations in SBMA muscle and link lipid/glucose metabolism to pathogenesis. Moreover, our results highlight an HFD regime as a promising approach to support SBMA patients.
Neuromuscular junction (NMJ) represents the morphofunctional interface between muscle and nerve. Several chronic pathologies such as aging and neurodegenerative diseases, including muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, display altered NMJ and functional denervation. However, the triggers and the molecular mechanisms underlying the dismantlement of NMJ remain unclear.Here we provide evidence that perturbation in redox signaling cascades, induced by muscle-specific accumulation of mutant SOD1G93A in transgenic MLC/SOD1G93A mice, is causally linked to morphological alterations of the neuromuscular presynaptic terminals, high turnover rate of acetylcholine receptor, and NMJ dismantlement. The analysis of potential molecular mechanisms that mediate the toxic activity of SOD1G93A revealed a causal link between protein kinase Cθ (PKCθ) activation and NMJ disintegration.The study discloses the molecular mechanism that triggers functional denervation associated with the toxic activity of muscle SOD1G93A expression and suggests the possibility of developing a new strategy to counteract age- and pathology-associated denervation based on pharmacological inhibition of PKCθ activity.Collectively, these data indicate that muscle-specific accumulation of oxidative damage can affect neuromuscular communication and induce NMJ dismantlement through a PKCθ-dependent mechanism. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 28, 1105-1119.
Myostatin regulates both muscle mass and muscle metabolism. The myostatin null (MSTN(-/-)) mouse has a hypermuscular phenotype owing to both hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the myofibres. The enlarged muscles display a reliance on glycolysis for energy production; however, enlarged muscles that develop in the absence of myostatin have compromised force-generating capacity. Recent evidence has suggested that endurance exercise training increases the oxidative properties of muscle. Here, we aimed to identify key changes in the muscle phenotype of MSTN(-/-) mice that can be induced by training. To this end, we subjected MSTN(-/-) mice to two different forms of training, namely voluntary wheel running and swimming, and compared the response at the morphological, myocellular and molecular levels. We found that both regimes normalized changes of myostatin deficiency and restored muscle function. We showed that both exercise training regimes increased muscle capillary density and the expression of Ucp3, Cpt1α, Pdk4 and Errγ, key markers for oxidative metabolism. Cross-sectional area of hypertrophic myofibres from MSTN(-/-) mice decreased towards wild-type values in response to exercise and, in this context, Bnip3, a key autophagy-related gene, was upregulated. This reduction in myofibre size caused an increase of the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio towards wild-type values. Importantly, both training regimes increased muscle force in MSTN(-/-) mice. We conclude that impaired skeletal muscle function in myostatin-deficient mice can be improved through endurance exercise-mediated remodelling of muscle fibre size and metabolic profile.
Mitochondrial dysfunction occurs during aging, but its impact on tissue senescence is unknown. Here, we find that sedentary but not active humans display an age-related decline in the mitochondrial protein, optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), that is associated with muscle loss. In adult mice, acute, muscle-specific deletion of Opa1 induces a precocious senescence phenotype and premature death. Conditional and inducible Opa1 deletion alters mitochondrial morphology and function but not DNA content. Mechanistically, the ablation of Opa1 leads to ER stress, which signals via the unfolded protein response (UPR) and FoxOs, inducing a catabolic program of muscle loss and systemic aging. Pharmacological inhibition of ER stress or muscle-specific deletion of FGF21 compensates for the loss of Opa1, restoring a normal metabolic state and preventing muscle atrophy and premature death. Thus, mitochondrial dysfunction in the muscle can trigger a cascade of signaling initiated at the ER that systemically affects general metabolism and aging.
Sarcopenia is a chronic disease characterized by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, force, and function during aging. It is an emerging public problem associated with poor quality of life, disability, frailty, and high mortality. A decline in mitochondria quality control pathways constitutes a major mechanism driving aging sarcopenia, causing abnormal organelle accumulation over a lifetime. The resulting mitochondrial dysfunction in sarcopenic muscles feedbacks systemically by releasing the myomitokines fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), influencing the whole-body homeostasis and dictating healthy or unhealthy aging. This review describes the principal pathways controlling mitochondrial quality, many of which are potential therapeutic targets against muscle aging, and the connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and the myomitokines FGF21 and GDF15 in the pathogenesis of aging sarcopenia.
Nitric oxide (NO), generated in skeletal muscle mostly by the neuronal NO synthases (nNOSμ), has profound effects on both mitochondrial bioenergetics and muscle development and function. The importance of NO for muscle repair emerges from the observation that nNOS signalling is defective in many genetically diverse skeletal muscle diseases in which muscle repair is dysregulated. How the effects of NO/nNOSμ on mitochondria impact on muscle function, however, has not been investigated yet.In this study we have examined the relationship between the NO system, mitochondrial structure/activity and skeletal muscle phenotype/growth/functions using a mouse model in which nNOSμ is absent. Also, NO-induced effects and the NO pathway were dissected in myogenic precursor cells.We show that nNOSμ deficiency in mouse skeletal muscle leads to altered mitochondrial bioenergetics and network remodelling, and increased mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR(mt)) and autophagy. The absence of nNOSμ is also accompanied by an altered mitochondrial homeostasis in myogenic precursor cells with a decrease in the number of myonuclei per fibre and impaired muscle development at early stages of perinatal growth. No alterations were observed, however, in the overall resting muscle structure, apart from a reduced specific muscle mass and cross sectional areas of the myofibres. Investigating the molecular mechanisms we found that nNOSμ deficiency was associated with an inhibition of the Akt-mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. Concomitantly, the Akt-FoxO3-mitochondrial E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (Mul-1) axis was also dysregulated. In particular, inhibition of nNOS/NO/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)/cGMP-dependent-protein kinases induced the transcriptional activity of FoxO3 and increased Mul-1 expression. nNOSμ deficiency was also accompanied by functional changes in muscle with reduced muscle force, decreased resistance to fatigue and increased degeneration/damage post-exercise.Our results indicate that nNOSμ/NO is required to regulate key homeostatic mechanisms in skeletal muscle, namely mitochondrial bioenergetics and network remodelling, UPR(mt) and autophagy. These events are likely associated with nNOSμ-dependent impairments of muscle fibre growth resulting in a deficit of muscle performance.
Abstract Age‐related sarcopenia is characterized by a progressive loss of muscle mass with decline in specific force, having dramatic consequences on mobility and quality of life in seniors. The etiology of sarcopenia is multifactorial and underlying mechanisms are currently not fully elucidated. Physical exercise is known to have beneficial effects on muscle trophism and force production. Alterations of mitochondrial Ca 2+ homeostasis regulated by mitochondrial calcium uniporter ( MCU ) have been recently shown to affect muscle trophism in vivo in mice. To understand the relevance of MCU ‐dependent mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake in aging and to investigate the effect of physical exercise on MCU expression and mitochondria dynamics, we analyzed skeletal muscle biopsies from 70‐year‐old subjects 9 weeks trained with either neuromuscular electrical stimulation ( ES ) or leg press. Here, we demonstrate that improved muscle function and structure induced by both trainings are linked to increased protein levels of MCU . Ultrastructural analyses by electron microscopy showed remodeling of mitochondrial apparatus in ES ‐trained muscles that is consistent with an adaptation to physical exercise, a response likely mediated by an increased expression of mitochondrial fusion protein OPA 1. Altogether these results indicate that the ES ‐dependent physiological effects on skeletal muscle size and force are associated with changes in mitochondrial‐related proteins involved in Ca 2+ homeostasis and mitochondrial shape. These original findings in aging human skeletal muscle confirm the data obtained in mice and propose MCU and mitochondria‐related proteins as potential pharmacological targets to counteract age‐related muscle loss.
Loss of muscle mass and force occurs in many diseases such as disuse/inactivity, diabetes, cancer, renal and cardiac failure and in aging-sarcopenia. In these catabolic conditions the mitochondrial content, morphology and function are greatly affected. The changes of mitochondrial network influence the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play an important role in muscle function. Moreover, dysfunctional mitochondria trigger catabolic signaling pathways which feed-forward to the nucleus to promote the activation of muscle atrophy. Exercise, on the other hand, improves mitochondrial function by activating mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy, possibly playing an important part in the beneficial effects of physical activity in several diseases. Optimised mitochondrial function is strictly maintained by the coordinated activation of different mitochondrial quality control pathways. In this review we outline the current knowledge linking mitochondria-dependent signaling pathways to muscle homeostasis in aging and disease and the resulting implications for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to prevent muscle loss.
