A Limited Role for PI(3,4,5)P3 Regulation in Controlling Skeletal Muscle Mass in Response to Resistance Exercise

Background Since activation of the PI3K/(protein kinase B; PKB/akt) pathway has been shown to alter muscle mass and growth, the aim of this study was to determine whether resistance exercise increased insulin like growth factor (IGF) I/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling and whether altering PI(3,4,5)P 3 metabolism genetically would increase load induced muscle growth. Methodology/Principal Findings Acute and chronic resistance exercise in wild type and muscle specific PTEN knockout mice were used to address the role of PI(3,4,5)P 3 regulation in the development of skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Acute resistance exercise did not increase either IGF-1 receptor phosphorylation or IRS1/2 associated p85. Since insulin/IGF signalling to PI3K was unchanged, we next sought to determine whether inactivation of PTEN played a role in load-induced muscle growth. Muscle specific knockout of PTEN resulted in small but significant increases in heart (PTEN +/+  = 5.00±0.02 mg/g, PTEN −/−  = 5.50±0.09 mg/g), and TA (PTEN +/+  = 1.74±0.04 mg/g, PTEN −/−  = 1.89 ±0.03) muscle mass, while the GTN, SOL, EDL and PLN remain unchanged. Following ablation, hypertrophy of the PLN, SOL or EDL muscles was similar between PTEN −/− and PTEN +/+ animals. Even though there were some changes in overload-induced PKB and S6K1 phosphorylation, 1 hr following acute resistance exercise there was no difference in the phosphorylation state of S6K1 Thr389 between genotypes. Conclusions/Significance These data suggest that physiological loading does not lead to the enhanced activation of the PI3K/PKB/mTORC1 axis and that neither PI3K activation nor PTEN, and by extension PI(3,4,5)P 3 levels, play a significant role in adult skeletal muscle growth.