Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Atrophy Resistant vs. Atrophy Susceptible skeletal muscles: “aRaS” as a novel experimental paradigm to study the mechanisms of human disuse atrophy

Hardy, E.J.O.; Inns, T.B.; Wilkinson, D.J.; Piasecki, Mathew; Atherton, P.J.; Phillips, B.E.; Bass, Joseph J.; Morris, R.; Spicer, A.; Sale, C.; Smith, K.

Atrophy Resistant vs. Atrophy Susceptible skeletal muscles: “aRaS” as a novel experimental paradigm to study the mechanisms of human disuse atrophy Thumbnail


Authors

E.J.O. Hardy

T.B. Inns

Dr JOSEPH BASS Joseph.Bass@nottingham.ac.uk
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (PHYSIOLOGY AND ENDOCRINOLOGY)

R. Morris

A. Spicer

C. Sale



Abstract

Objective: Disuse atrophy (DA) describes inactivity-induced skeletal muscle loss, through incompletely defined mechanisms. An intriguing observation is that individual muscles exhibit differing degrees of atrophy, despite exhibiting similar anatomical function/locations. We aimed to develop an innovative experimental paradigm to investigate Atrophy Resistant tibialis anterior (TA) and Atrophy Susceptible medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles (aRaS) with a future view of uncovering central mechanisms.

Method: Seven healthy young men (22 ± 1 year) underwent 15 days unilateral leg immobilisation (ULI). Participants had a single leg immobilised using a knee brace and air-boot to fix the leg (75° knee flexion) and ankle in place. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), MRI and ultrasound scans of the lower leg were taken before and after the immobilisation period to determine changes in muscle mass. Techniques were developed for conchotome and microneedle TA/MG muscle biopsies following immobilisation (both limbs), and preliminary fibre typing analyses was conducted.

Results: TA/MG muscles displayed comparable fibre type distribution of predominantly type I fibres (TA 67 ± 7%, MG 63 ± 5%). Following 15 days immobilisation, MG muscle volume (–2.8 ± 1.4%, p < 0.05) and muscle thickness decreased (−12.9 ± 1.6%, p < 0.01), with a positive correlation between changes in muscle volume and thickness (R2 = 0.31, p = 0.038). Importantly, both TA muscle volume and thickness remained unchanged.

Conclusion: The use of this unique “aRaS” paradigm provides an effective and convenient means by which to study the mechanistic basis of divergent DA susceptibility in humans, which may facilitate new mechanistic insights, and by extension, mitigation of skeletal muscle atrophy during human DA.

Citation

Hardy, E., Inns, T., Wilkinson, D., Piasecki, M., Atherton, P., Phillips, B., Bass, J. J., Morris, R., Spicer, A., Sale, C., & Smith, K. (2021). Atrophy Resistant vs. Atrophy Susceptible skeletal muscles: “aRaS” as a novel experimental paradigm to study the mechanisms of human disuse atrophy. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 653060. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.653060

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 1, 2021
Online Publication Date May 4, 2021
Publication Date May 4, 2021
Deposit Date Apr 16, 2021
Publicly Available Date May 4, 2021
Journal Frontiers in Physiology
Electronic ISSN 1664-1078
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Article Number 653060
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.653060
Keywords Skeletal muscle atrophy; aRaS; disuse atrophy; tibialis anterior; medial gastrocnemius
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5469065
Publisher URL https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.653060/full

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations