INAUGURAL ARTICLE by a Recently Elected Academy Member:Functional redundancy of type I and type II receptors in the regulation of skeletal muscle growth by myostatin and activin A

Myostatin (MSTN) is a transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family member that normally acts to limit muscle growth. The function of MSTN is partially redundant with that of another TGF-β family member, activin A. MSTN and activin A are capable of signaling through a complex of type II and type I receptors. Here, we investigated the roles of two type II receptors (ACVR2 and ACVR2B) and two type I receptors (ALK4 and ALK5) in the regulation of muscle mass by these ligands by genetically targeting these receptors either alone or in combination specifically in myofibers in mice. We show that targeting signaling in myofibers is sufficient to cause significant increases in muscle mass, showing that myofibers are the direct target for signaling by these ligands in the regulation of muscle growth. Moreover, we show that there is functional redundancy between the two type II receptors as well as between the two type I receptors and that all four type II/type I receptor combinations are utilized in vivo. Targeting signaling specifically in myofibers also led to reductions in overall body fat content and improved glucose metabolism in mice fed either regular chow or a high-fat diet, demonstrating that these metabolic effects are the result of enhanced muscling. We observed no effect, however, on either bone density or muscle regeneration in mice in which signaling was targeted in myofibers. The latter finding implies that MSTN likely signals to other cells, such as satellite cells, in addition to myofibers to regulate muscle homeostasis.

Myostatin (MSTN) is a secreted signaling molecule that normally acts to limit skeletal muscle growth (for review, see ref. 1). Mice lacking MSTN exhibit dramatic increases in muscle mass throughout the body, with individual muscles growing to about twice the normal size (2). MSTN appears to play two distinct roles in regulating muscle size, one to regulate the number of muscle fibers that are formed during development and a second to regulate the growth of those fibers postnatally. The sequence of MSTN has been highly conserved through evolution, with the mature MSTN peptide being identical in species as divergent as humans and turkeys (3). The function of MSTN has also been conserved, and targeted or naturally occurring mutations in MSTN have been shown to cause increased muscling in numerous species, including cattle (3–5), sheep (6), dogs (7), rabbits (8), rats (9), swine (10), goats (11), and humans (12). Numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have developed biologic agents capable of blocking MSTN activity, and these have been tested in clinical trials for a wide range of indications, including Duchenne and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, inclusion body myositis, muscle atrophy following falls and hip fracture surgery, age-related sarcopenia, Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease, and cachexia due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage kidney disease, and cancer.The finding that certain inhibitors of MSTN signaling can increase muscle mass even in Mstn^−/− mice revealed that the function of MSTN as a negative regulator of muscle mass is partially redundant with at least one other TGF-β family member (13, 14), and subsequent studies have identified activin A as one of these cooperating ligands (15, 16). MSTN and activin A share many key regulatory and signaling components. For example, the activities of both MSTN and activin A can be modulated extracellularly by naturally occurring inhibitory binding proteins, including follistatin (17, 18) and the follistatin-related protein, FSTL-3 or FLRG (19, 20). Moreover, MSTN and activin A also appear to share receptor components. Based on in vitro studies, MSTN is capable of binding initially to the activin type II receptors, ACVR2 and ACVR2B (also called ActRIIA and ActRIIB) (18) followed by engagement of the type I receptors, ALK4 and ALK5 (21). In previous studies, we presented genetic evidence supporting a role for both ACVR2 and ACVR2B in mediating MSTN signaling and regulating muscle mass in vivo. Specifically, we showed that mice expressing a truncated, dominant-negative form of ACVR2B in skeletal muscle (18) or carrying deletion mutations in Acvr2 and/or Acvr2b (13) have significantly increased muscle mass. One limitation of the latter study, however, was that we could not examine the consequence of complete loss of both receptors using the deletion alleles, as double homozygous mutants die early during embryogenesis (22). Moreover, the roles that the two type I receptors, ALK4 and ALK5, play in regulating MSTN and activin A signaling in muscle in vivo have not yet been documented using genetic approaches. Here, we present the results of studies in which we used floxed alleles for each of the type II and type I receptor genes in order to target these receptors alone and in combination in muscle fibers. We show that these receptors are functionally redundant and that signaling through each of these receptors contributes to the overall control of muscle mass.     

The interaction between the activator agents batrachotoxin and veratridine and the gating processes of neuronal sodium channels

The depolarization of frog sciatic nerves by the Na channel-activating toxins, batrachotoxin and veratridine, was studied using the sucrose-gap technique. To study the interaction between the activators and the gating processes of Na channels, we measured the depolarizations of unstimulated nerves, of nerves during repetitive stimulation, and of nerves whose Na channel inactivation process had been pharmacologically modified. Stimulation enhanced the rates of depolarization by the activators but did not effect the steady state depolarization values. Of the three inhibitors of Na channel inactivation that were tested (Leiurus alpha-scorpion toxin, chloramine T, and Ni2+), only Leiurus toxin enhanced the potencies of the activators. Neither chloramine T nor Ni2+ had any effect on the steady state level of depolarization produced by either activator. Both chloramine T and Ni2+, however, enhanced the rate of batrachotoxin action, although neither affected the rate of veratridine action. Leiurus toxin also potentiated the effects of the activators in chloramine T-treated nerves. We tested the interaction between the Na channel activators and a class of agents, local anesthetics, that stabilize a non-conducting state of the Na channel. The presence of lidocaine inhibited the depolarization produced by addition of either activator, although the addition of lidocaine subsequent to the development of batrachotoxin-induced depolarization produced repolarization very weakly and slowly. We also found that the lidocaine homologue, RAC 109I, was about 3 times as potent as its stereoisomer, RAC 109II, in its ability both to reduce the compound action potential amplitude and to inhibit the veratridine-induced depolarization.     

Different molecular forms of cholecystokinin and CCKB receptor binding in the rat brain after chronic antidepressant treatment

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a neuropeptide recently implicated in affective disorders. This study aimed at measuring the levels of different molecular forms of CCK and the binding characteristics of CCK_B receptors in the rat brain after three weeks of treatment with four different antidepressants, imipramine, amitriptyline, desipramine, and citalopram (all at the dose of 10 mg/kg once per day i.p.). Chronic treatment with imipramine and desipramine had a significant immobility-reducing effect in the Porsolt‘s swim test. The effect of amitriptyline, albeit in the same direction, was not significant, and citalopram had no effect in this test. In the elevated plus-maze test of anxiety, all drugs tended to increase the number of open arm entries and the ratio open/total arm entries, but only the effects of imipramine were statistically significant. None of the treatments affected the total levels of CCK or the levels of CCK-8-sulphated, CCK-8-nonsulphated, CCK-5, or CCK-4 in the frontal cortex. There was no effect of the treatments on CCK_B receptor binding in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, or striatum. Imipramine and amitriptyline, however, increased the affinity of CCK_B receptor binding in the hypothalamus. Thus, no consistent effect of chronic antidepressant treatment on the CCK-ergic neurotransmission in the rats was found. Received: 4 June 1996 / Accepted: 26 August 1996     

Tetracycline-regulated gene expression following direct gene transfer into mouse skeletal muscle

For most experimental and therapeutic applications of gene transfer, regulation of the timing and level of gene expression is preferable to constitutive gene expression. Among the systems that have been developed for pharmacologically controlled gene expression in mammalian cells, the bacterial tetracycline (tet)-responsive system has the advantage that it is dependent on a drug (tet) that is both highly specific and non-toxic. The tet-responsive system has been previously used to modulate expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins in cultured cells, reporter genes in plants and transgenic mice and reporter genes directly injected into the heart. Here we show that orally or parenterally administered tet regulates expression of tet-responsive plasmids injected directly into mouse skeletal muscle. Reporter gene expression was suppressed by two orders of magnitude in the presence of tet, and that suppression was reversed when tet was withdrawn. These data show that skeletal muscle offers an accessible and well characterized target tissue for tet-controlled expression of genesin vivo, suggesting applications to developmental studies and gene therapy.     

Diabetes, erectile dysfunction, and sleep-related erections

Sleep-related erections were assessed in conjunction with polysomnography in 100 diabetic and 400 nondiabetic men with complaints of erectile problems. We also measured bulbocavernosus reflex latency, heart rate response to deep breathing, postural-related blood pressure changes, penile arterial sufficiency, and brachial blood pressures. To investigate the relationship between diabetes and erectile capacity, the results obtained from men with and without diabetes were compared. Men with diabetes had fewer sleep-related erections, less tumescence time, diminished penile circumference increase, and lower penile rigidity than nondiabetic men. These diabetes-related differences were found regardless of the maximum penile rigidity observed. The diabetic group had less heart rate response to deep breathing and lower penile blood pressures than the nondiabetic group, but only among men with maximum penile rigidity less than 500 g. These data indicate that both neurological and vascular mechanisms are involved to a greater degree in organic diabetic impotence than in the organic erectile dysfunction that occurs in nondiabetic men. Finally, the pattern of lower values for measures of nocturnal tumescence among diabetic men, compared to nondiabetic men, occurred in all age groups, except the oldest. Among impotent men, age 65 years or older, no difference was found between men with and without diabetes. This suggests that diabetes may foreshadow some of the age-related pathophysiological processes associated with erectile dysfunction.     

Mutation of a putative mitochondrial iron transporter gene (ABC7) in X-linked sideroblastic anemia and ataxia (XLSA/A)

X-linked sideroblastic anemia and ataxia (XLSA/A) is a recessive disorder characterized by an infantile to early childhood onset of non-progressive cerebellar ataxia and mild anemia with hypochromia and microcytosis. A gene encoding an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter was mapped to Xq13, a region previously shown by linkage analysis to harbor the XLSA/A gene. This gene, ABC7, is an ortholog of the yeast ATM1 gene whose product localizes to the mitochondrial inner membrane and is involved in iron homeostasis. The full-length ABC7 cDNA was cloned and the entire coding region screened for mutations in a kindred in which five male members manifested XLSA/A. An I400M variant was identified in a predicted transmembrane segment of the ABC7 gene in patients with XLSA/A. The mutation was shown to segregate with the disease in the family and was not detected in at least 600 chromosomes of general population controls. Introduction of the corresponding mutation into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATM1 gene resulted in a partial loss of function of the yeast Atm1 protein. In addition, the human wild-type ABC7 protein was able to complement ATM1 deletion in yeast. These data indicate that ABC7 is the causal gene of XLSA/A and that XLSA/A is a mitochondrial disease caused by a mutation in the nuclear genome.