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Vitamin C administration attenuates overload‐induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy in rats
Author(s) -
Makanae Y.,
Kawada S.,
Sasaki K.,
Nakazato K.,
Ishii N.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta physiologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.591
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1748-1716
pISSN - 1748-1708
DOI - 10.1111/apha.12042
Subject(s) - plantaris muscle , muscle hypertrophy , medicine , placebo , skeletal muscle , endocrinology , vitamin , vitamin c , vitamin e , muscle atrophy , atrophy , antioxidant , soleus muscle , biology , pathology , biochemistry , alternative medicine
Aim This study aimed to investigate the effects of vitamin C administration on skeletal muscle hypertrophy induced by mechanical overload in rats. Methods Male W istar rats were randomly assigned to three groups: (i) sham‐operated group ( n = 8), (ii) placebo‐administered group ( n = 8) and (iii) vitamin C ‐administered group ( n = 8). In the placebo‐administered and vitamin C ‐administered groups, the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the right hindlimb were surgically removed to overload the plantaris muscle. Vitamin C (500 mg kg −1 ) was orally administered to the vitamin C ‐administered group once a day for 14 days. Results Synergist muscle ablation caused significant increases in wet weight and protein concentration of the plantaris muscle in both the placebo‐administered ( P < 0.01) and vitamin C‐administered groups ( P < 0.01) compared with the sham‐operated group ( SHA ). However, the magnitude of plantaris muscle hypertrophy (expressed as a percentage of the contralateral plantaris muscle) was significantly smaller ( P < 0.01) in the vitamin C ‐administered group (141%) than in the placebo‐administered group ( PLA ) (152%). Compared with the SHA , only the PLA showed higher expressions of phosphorylated p70s6k and Erk1/2 (positive regulators of muscle protein synthesis) and a lower expression of atrogin‐1 (a muscle atrophy marker). Concentrations of vitamin C and oxidative stress markers in the overloaded muscle were similar between the placebo‐administered and vitamin C ‐administered groups. Conclusion Oral vitamin C administration can attenuate overload‐induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy, which may have implications for antioxidant supplementation during exercise training.