• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.38-44
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• 2015

Objective: Skeletal muscle is a crucial tissue from the perspectives of mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance, it is formed by myogenesis which is dynamic multistep process to be myotubes. The authors could found that root of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidzumi (Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba, ARA) enhanced glucose and lipid metabolism in C2C12 myotubes via mitochondrial regulation. However its action in myogenesis process is not known. The aim of this work was the study of ARA on proliferation, differentiation and hypertrophy in C2C12 cells. Methods: To study proliferation phase, cells were incubated in growth medium with or without ARA (0.2 or 1.0 mg/ml) for 24 hours. To examine differentiation, at 70% confluence, cells were transferred in differentiation medium both with/without ARA (0.2 or 1.0 mg/ml) for 96 hours. And after 72 hours of differentiation, cells were treated with or without ARA (0.2 or 1.0 mg/ml) for 24 hours, the genesis of hypertrophy in myotubes were analyzed. Results: In proliferation phase, ARA could make difference in morphologic examination. In differentiation phase, it also made morphologic difference furthermore ARA (1.0 mg/ml) increased mRNA expressions of Myogenic regulatory factors and muscle-specific proteins synthesis. In late differentiation, ARA induced hypertrophic morphological changes in neo-formed myotubes. Conclusions: ARA might control cell cycle promoting myogenesis and hypertrophy in C2C12 cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.362-372
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• 2015

Setdb1, an H3-K9 specific histone methyltransferase, is associated with transcriptional silencing of euchromatic genes through chromatin modification. Functions of Setdb1 during development have been extensively studied in embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells as well as neurogenic progenitor cells. But the role of Sedtdb1 in myogenic differentiation remains unknown. In this study, we report that Setdb1 is required for myogenic potential of C2C12 myoblast cells through maintaining the expressions of MyoD and muscle-specific genes. We find that reduced Setdb1 expression in C2C12 myoblast cells severely delayed differentiation of C2C12 myoblast cells, whereas exogenous Setdb1 expression had little effect on. Gene expression profiling analysis using oligonucleotide microarray and RNA-Seq technologies demonstrated that depletion of Setdb1 results in downregulation of MyoD as well as the components of muscle fiber in proliferating C2C12 cells. In addition, exogenous expression of MyoD reversed transcriptional repression of MyoD promoter-driven luciferase reporter by Setdb1 shRNA and rescued myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblast cells depleted of endogenous Setdb1. Taken together, these results provide new insights into how levels of key myogenic regulators are maintained prior to induction of differentiation.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.17-26
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• 2022

Alpha-linolenic acid is an important polyunsaturated fatty acid that exhibits anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative effects. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of alpha-linolenic acid on the cell proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells under essential amino acid-deficient conditions. Different concentrations of alpha-linolenic acid and essential amino acids were added to the growth and differentiation media. The concentrations of 10 µM of alpha-linolenic acid and 2% essential amino acid were chosen for subsequent experiments. Supplementation with alpha-linolenic acid and essential amino acids improved the proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells and significantly increased the mRNA levels of catalase, superoxide dismutase, B-cell lymphoma-2, and beclin-1 as well as the protein levels of PPARγ coactivator-1α compared to those in the controls. Moreover, supplementation with alpha-linolenic acid and essential amino acids reduced the levels of phosphorylated H2A.X variant histone, Bcl-2-associated X, p53, and light chain 3 during C2C12 cell proliferation, and increased the expression levels of myogenic factors 4 (myogenin) and 5 during C2C12 cell differentiation. Overall, we determined that alpha-linolenic acid and essential amino acids maintained the cell proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells via their anti-oxidative, anti-apoptotic, and anti-autophagic effects.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제17권5호
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• pp.447-453
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• 2013

Osteoblastic activity of nectandrin A was examined in C2C12 cells. Nectandrin A enhances the BMP-induced osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization, manifested by the up-regulation of differentiation markers (alkaline phosphatase and osteogenic genes) and increased calcium contents. In C2C12 cells co-transfected with expression vector encoding Smad4 and Id1-Luc reporter, nectandrin A increased Id1 luciferase activity in a concentration-dependent manner, when compared to that in BMP-2 treated cells, indicating that Smad signaling pathway is associated with nectandrin A-enhanced osteoblastic differentiation in C2C12 cells. In addition, nectandrin A activated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in time- and concentration-dependent manners, and phosphorylated form of pSmad1/5/8 and alkaline phosphatase activity were both decreased when the cells were pretreated with SB203580, a p38 MAPK inhibitor, suggesting that p38 MAPK might be an upstream kinase for Smad signaling pathway. Taken together, nectandrin A enhances the BMP-induced osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization of C2C12 cells via activation of p38 MAPK-Smad signaling pathway, and it has a therapeutic potential for osteoporosis by promoting bone formation.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.99-107
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• 2019

Objective : The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Chaenomelis Fructus (CF) on the regulation of biogenesis in C2C12 mouse skeletal muscle cells. Methods : C2C12 myoblasts were differentiated into myotubes in 2% horse serum-containing medium for 5 days, and then treated with CF extract at different concentrations for 48 hr. The expression of muscle differentiation markers, myogenin and myosin heavy chain (MHC) and mitochondrial biogenesis-regulating factors, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha (PGC1α), sirtuin1 (Sirt1), nuclear respiratory factor1 (NRF1) and transcription factor A, mitochondrial (TFAM), and the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) were determined in C2C12 myotubes by reverse transcriptase (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot, respectively. The cellular glucose levels and total ATP contents were measured by cellular glucose uptake and ATP assays, respectively. Results : Treatment with CF extract (0.01, 0.02, and 0.05 mg/㎖) significantly increased the expression of MHC protein in C2C12 myotubes compared with non-treated cells. CF extract significantly increased the expression of PGC1α and TFAM in the myotubes. Also, CF extract significantly increased glucose uptake levels and ATP contents in the myotubes. Conclusion : CF extract can stimulate C2C12 myoblasts differentiation into myotubes and increase energy production through upregulation of the expression of mitochondrial biogenetic factors in C2C12 mouse skeletal muscle cell. This suggests that CF can help to improve skeletal muscle function with stimulation of the energy metabolism.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.64-72
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• 2023

Despite several advances in identification of cardiac transcription factors, there are still needs to find new bioactive molecules that promote cardiomyogenesis from stem cells to highly efficient myocardial differentiation. We analyzed Illumina expression microarray data of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs)-derived cardiomyocytes. 276 genes were upregulated (≥ 4fold) in mESCs-derived cardiomyocytes compared undifferentiated ESCs. Secreted phosphoprotein 2 (Spp2) is one of candidates and is known to inhibit bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) signal transduction as a pseudoreceptor for BMP2. However, its function in cardiomyogenesis is unknown. We confirmed that Spp2 expression increased during the differentiation into functional cardiomyocytes using mESCs, TC-1/Kh2 and E14. Interestingly, Spp2 secretion transiently increased 3 days after formation of embryoid bodies (EBs), indicating that the extracellular secretion of Spp2 is involved in the differentiation of ESCs into cardiomyocytes. To characterize Spp2, we performed experiments using the C2C12 mouse myoblast cell line, which has the property of shifting the differentiation pathway from myoblastic to osteoblastic by treatment with BMP2. Similar to the differentiation of ESCs, transcription of Spp2 increased as C2C12 myoblasts differentiated into myotubes. In particular, Spp2 secretion increased dramatically in the early stage of differentiation. Furthermore, treatment with Spp2-Flag recombinant protein promoted the differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts into myotubes. Taken together, we suggest a novel bioactive protein Spp2 that differentiates ESCs into cardiomyocytes. This may be useful for understanding the molecular pathways of cardiomyogenesis and for experimental or clinical promotion of stem cell therapy for ischemic heart diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.55-60
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• 2002

The differentiation of skeletal muscle precursor cells in culture is marked by the transcriptional activation of muscle-specific genes and the morphological differentiation of myoblast into multinucleate myotube. In this study, we examined the effect of TSA (Trichostatin A) on WF-kB DNA binding activity and muscle cell fusion in the process of myogenesis. Under TSA treatment, C2C12 myoblast could not fuse to myotube and its NF-kB DNA binding activity was also blocked. To investigate whether these phenomenons were affected by TSA in direct or not, differentiation media (DM) used to differentiate cells without TSA was concentrated and added to C2C12 myoblast with TSA simultaneously. C2C12 myoblast was fused to myotube and NF-kB DNA binding activity was recovered. These results suggest that TSA affects on the differentiation of myoblast, perhaps through several factors, by inhibiting myoblst fusion and blocking NF-kB DNA binding activity.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.190-200
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• 2023

Skeletal muscle, essential for metabolism, thermoregulation, and immunity, undergoes myogenic differentiation that results in myotube formation. Trans-anethole (TA), the major constituent in essential oil produced by anise, star anise, and fennel, whose function in skeletal muscle has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, we investigated whether TA influenced muscle differentiation in mouse C2C12 myoblasts. Cells were induced to differentiate using a differentiation medium with or without TA (50 or 200 mg/mL) daily for 5 days. We measured myotube length and diameter after differentiation days 1, 3, and 5 and analyzed the expression of myogenic markers (myoblast determination protein 1, myogenin, myocyte enhancer factor 2, muscle creatine kinase, and myosin heavy chain) and atrophy-related genes (atrogin-1 and muscle ring finger-1 [MuRF-1]) using quantitative real-time PCR. Additionally, we observed the expression of total protein kinase B (Akt) and phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) using western blotting. Our data showed that TA significantly induced the formation of smaller and thinner myotubes and reduced the myogenic factor expression. Furthermore, the atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 expression markedly increased by TA. Consistent with these findings, TA significantly decreased the expression of total Akt and p-Akt. Taken together, these results indicate that TA inhibits myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells via reduction of both total Akt and p-Akt. Our findings may provide valuable insights into the impact of PAA on individuals at risk of muscle atrophy.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.243-257
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• 2008

Myostatin, a negative regulator of myogenesis, is shown to function by controlling the proliferation of myoblasts. In this study we show that myostatin is an inhibitor of myoblast differentiation and that this inhibition is mediated through Smad 3. To determine MyoD expression by Dodamtang treatment, we compared the expression pattern of $C_{2}C_{12}$ mouse myoblasts that constitutively express myostatin with control cells. In vitro, increasing concentrations of Dodamtang reversibly prevented the myogenic blockage of myoblasts by myostatin expression. ELISA assay, Western and confocal analysis indicated that treatment of Dodamtang to the low serum culture media increased the levels of MyoD leading to the inhibition of myogenic differentiation by myostatin. The stable transfection of $C_{2}C_{12}$ myoblasts with myostatin expressing constructs did rescue MyoD-induced myogenic differentiation. Consistent with this, the treatment of Dodamtang rescued the expression of a MyoD in $C_{2}C_{12}$ myoblasts treated with myostatin. Taken together, these results suggest that induction of MyoD by Dodamtang inhibits myostatin activity and expression via SMAD3 resulting in the rescue of the myoblasts to differentiate into myotubes. Thus we propose that myostatin action by Dodamtang plays a critical role in myogenic differentiation and that the muscular hyperplasia and hypertrophy seen in animals that blockage of functional myostatin is because of deregulated proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.411-416
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• 2014

Simple formulas (單方) of muscle section in Donguibogam (東醫寶鑑) have long been prescribed for strengthening muscle and/or prevention of age-related muscle loss. However, biological activity and mechanisms by which they influence myoblast differentiation have not been studied. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the effects of 14 simple formulas on myoblast differentiation in C2C12 myoblast cells under non-cytotoxic ($0.5mg/m{\ell}$) conditions. C2C12 cells were treated with water extracts of simple formulas for 72 h, and RT-PCR was performed to determine the gene expression levels of myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), including myoD, myogenin, MRF4, myf5, and insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Treatment with Colocasiae Rhizoma (CR), Pini Semen (PS), and Sesami Semen (SS) resulted in a significant increase in expression of myogenin in C2C12 cells. Treatment with Allii Macrostemi Bulbus (AM), Colocasiae Rhizoma (CR), and Pini Semen (PS) also resulted in increased expression of MRF4 in C2C12 cells. In addition, enhanced expression of IGF-1 was observed in treatment with Eucommiae cortex (EC), Dioscoreae Rhizoma (DR), Colocasiae Rhizoma (CR), Pini Semen (PS), and Sesami Semen (SS) in C2C12 cells. These results indicate that simple formulas of muscle section in Donguibogam could potentially enhance myoblast differentiation at least in part via increasing expression of myogenin, and/or MRF4 and/or IGF-1.