TITLE:
Growth and differentiation factor-11 is developmentally regulated in skeletal muscle and inhibits myoblast differentiation
AUTHORS:
Ferenc Jeanplong, Shelley J. Falconer, Mark Thomas, Kenneth G. Matthews, Jenny M. Oldham, Trevor Watson, Christopher D. McMahon
KEYWORDS:
GDF-11, Developmental Expression, Post-Natal Muscle Growth, Sexual Dimorphism, Myoblast Differentiation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Molecular and Integrative Physiology,
Vol.2 No.4,
November
21,
2012
ABSTRACT: Growth and differentiation factor-11 (GDF-11) is a secreted protein that is closely related to myostatin, a known inhibitor of skeletal muscle development. The role of GDF-11 in regulating skeletal muscle growth remains unclear and the pattern of expression during post-natal growth has not been reported. Therefore, we sought to determine the expression of GDF-11 during post-natal growth and its effect on myoblast proliferation and differentiation. We collected gastrocnemius muscles from male and female mice at 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 20 and 32 weeks of age (n = 6 per sex and age). In addition, gastrocnemius muscles were col- lected from male wild-type and myostatin knockout mice at 4, 6, 12 and 20 weeks of age (n = 6 per age and genotype). RNA was extracted and reverse tran- scribed. Northern analysis identified an expected 4.4 kb mRNA transcript for GDF-11 in gastrocnemius muscles of mice. The concentration of GDF-11 mRNA, as determined by quantitative PCR, was increased in gastrocnemius muscles from 2 to 6 weeks—a period of rapid postnatal muscle growth—and remained higher in male than female mice from 4 to 20 weeks of age (P gastrocnemius muscles of myostatin knockout compared with wild-type mice (P