A novel stable isotope tracer method to simultaneously quantify skeletal muscle protein synthesis and breakdown

Atherton, Philip J.; Crossland, Hannah; Smith, Kenneth; Atherton, Philip J; Wilkinson, Daniel J.

Abstract

Background/Aims: Methodological challenges have been associated with the dynamic measurement of muscle protein breakdown (MPB), as have the measurement of both muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and MPB within the same experiment. Our aim was to use the transmethylation properties of methionine as proof-of-concept to measure rates of MPB via its methylation of histidine within skeletal muscle myofibrillar proteins, whilst simultaneously utilising methionine incorporation into bound protein to measure MPS.
Results: During the synthesis measurement period, incorporation of methyl[D3]-13C-methionine into cellular protein in C2C12 myotubes was observed (representative of MPS), alongside an increase in the appearance of methyl[D3]-methylhistidine into the media following methylation of histidine (representative of MPB). For further validation of this approach, fractional synthetic rates (FSR) of muscle protein were increased following treatment of the cells with the anabolic factors insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin, while dexamethasone expectedly reduced MPS. Conversely, rates of MPB were reduced with IGF-1 and insulin treatments, whereas dexamethasone accelerated MPB.
Conclusions: This is a novel stable isotope tracer approach that permits the dual assessment of muscle cellular protein synthesis and breakdown rates, through the provision of a single methionine amino acid tracer that could be utilised in a wide range of biological settings.

Citation

Atherton, P. J., Crossland, H., Smith, K., Atherton, P. J., & Wilkinson, D. J. (2020). A novel stable isotope tracer method to simultaneously quantify skeletal muscle protein synthesis and breakdown. Metabolism Open, 5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metop.2020.100022

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 7, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 10, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2020
• Journal: Metabolism Open
• Print ISSN: 2589-9368
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-8600
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Article Number: 100022
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metop.2020.100022
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3701960
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589936820300025?via%3Dihub