Myostatin deficiency is associated with an increase in number of total axons and motor axons innervating mouse tibialis anterior muscle

Abstract

Myostatin (Mstn) is a secreted protein that acts as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle mass. However, a critical evaluation of neuromuscular aspects of hypertrophied muscles induced by Mstn deficiency has not been done. We compared the tibialis anterior muscle-nerve interrelationships in wild-type and Mstn-null mice of both genders by immunohistochemical analyses, which allowed us to count the number of total axons and motor axons and estimate the size of motor units and the innervation ratio of the tibialis anterior muscle (TAm). There was an increase in the number of total axons and motor axons, and higher values in both the motor unit size and the innervation ratio of Mstn-null TAm compared with those of wild-type TAm. We found that myostatin is involved either directly in the control of neuromuscular interrelationships or indirectly through its effect on muscle size.