Thermoneutral Housing and a Western Diet Combination Exacerbates Dysferlin-Deficient Muscular Dystrophy.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION/AIMS:

Most mouse models of muscular dystrophy (MD) show mild phenotypes, which limits the translatability of experimental therapies to patients. A growing body of evidence suggests that MD is accompanied by metabolic abnormalities that could potentially exacerbate the primary muscle wasting process. Since thermoneutral (TN) housing of mice (~30°C) has been shown to affect many metabolic parameters, particularly when combined with a Western diet (WD), our aim was to determine whether the combination of TN and WD exacerbates muscle wasting in dysferlin-deficient BLAJ mice, a common model of limb-girdle MD type 2b (LGMD2b).

METHODS:

The 2-mo-old wild-type (WT) and BLAJ mice were housed at TN or room temperature (RT) and fed a WD or regular chow for 9 mo. Ambulatory function, muscle histology, and protein immunoblots of skeletal muscle were assessed.

RESULTS:

BLAJ mice at RT and fed a chow diet showed normal ambulation function similar to WT mice, whereas 90% of BLAJ mice under WD and TN combination showed ambulatory dysfunction (p < 0.001), and an up to 4.1-fold increase in quadriceps and gastrocnemius fat infiltration. Western blotting revealed decreased autophagy marker microtubules-associated protein 1 light chain 3-B (LC3BII/LC3BI) ratio and up-regulation of protein kinase B/AKT and ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation, suggesting inefficient cellular debris and protein clearance in TN BLAJ mice fed a WD. Male and female BLAJ mice under TN and WD combination showed heterogenous fibro-fatty infiltrate composition.

DISCUSSION:

TN and WD combination exacerbates rodent LGMD2b without affecting WT mice. This improves rodent modeling of human MD and helps elucidate how metabolic abnormalities may play a causal role in muscle wasting.

• Authors: Graham S Donen, Zoe White, Elodie Sauge, Morten Ritso, Marine Theret, John Boyd, Angela M Devlin, Fabio M V Rossi, Pascal Bernatchez
• Journal: Muscle & nerve (Muscle Nerve) Vol. 66 Issue 4 Pg. 513-522 (10 2022) ISSN: 1097-4598 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 35859452 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Chemical References

• Dysferlin
• Ribosomal Protein S6
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt

Topics

• Animals
• Diet, Western (adverse effects)
• Dysferlin (genetics, metabolism)
• Female
• Housing
• Humans
• Male
• Mice
• Muscle, Skeletal
• Muscular Atrophy (genetics, metabolism)
• Muscular Dystrophies (pathology)
• Muscular Dystrophies, Limb-Girdle (pathology)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt (metabolism)
• Ribosomal Protein S6 (metabolism)