Abstract
An organochlorine insecticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), has been widely used on agricultural products during the twentieth century and is still present in the environment and foods. Based on emerging body of evidences indicating that exposure to persistent organic pollutants, including organochlorine insecticides, is linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes, we investigated the role of DDT on myogenesis, which may have significant implications regarding glucose uptake. C2C12 myoblasts were treated with various concentrations of DDT (0.1‐10 μM) for 8 days, during differentiation into myotubes. Myotube formation and gene and protein expressions for myogenic factors were determined. DDT reduced myotube formation dose‐dependently. DDT treatment decreased mRNA expression of MyoD, an early myogenic factor, while no effects of DDT were observed in other myogenic factors. Phosphorylation of protein kinase B (pAKT) was significantly reduced by DDT treatment. These results suggest that DDT inhibits myogenesis by affecting the early differentiation factor of myotube formation targeting upstream regulator of AKT. This may attribute to decreased muscle mass and lead to the development of type 2 diabetes.
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