Role of skeletal muscle homeostasis of functional food material

Abstract

Functional food material, polyamines are considered to be essential for growth factors in virtually all cells. The polyamines putrescine, spermidine and spermine are low molecular weight organic polycations, well known as mediators involved in cell homeostasis. The proposed functions of polyamines are the regulation of ion channels, nucleic acid packaging, signal transduction, cell proliferation, and differentiation, as well as gene expression. In skeletal muscle, regulation of polyamine levels is associated with muscle hypertrophy and atrophy, yet detailed studies are remained to be undergoing. Here, we studied how polyamines may affect the proliferation and/or differentiation of murine myoblast progenitor C2C12 cell line. Upon polyamine treatment of C2C12 cells during induction of myogenic differentiation, the number of myotubes significantly increased. Morphologically, polyamine-treated myotubes exhibited elongated cell body and contained larger amount of nuclei in the cell. On the other hand, the polyamine did not have influence on myoblasts proliferation. Furthermore, compensatory muscle hypertrophy of C57BL6 mice that underwent sciatic nerve transection of the left hindlimb was enhanced by administration of polyamines. Therefore, our study demonstrates that polyamines may play an important role in regulating myogenic differentiation rather than myoblasts proliferation.