Abstract
Vitamin C plays key roles in cell homeostasis, acting as a potent antioxidant as well as a positive modulator of cell differentiation. In skeletal muscle, the vitamin C/sodium co-transporter SVCT2 is preferentially expressed in oxidative slow fibers. Besides, SVCT2 is up-regulated upon the early fusion of primary myoblasts. However, our knowledge of the postnatal expression profile of SVCT2 remains scarce. Here we have analyzed the expression of SVCT2 during postnatal development of the chicken slow anterior and fast posterior latissimus dorsi muscles, ranging from day 7 to adulthood. SVCT2 expression is consistently higher in the slow than in the fast muscle at all stages. After hatching, SVCT2 expression is significantly down-regulated in the anterior latissimus dorsi, which nevertheless maintains a robust slow phenotype. Taking advantage of the C2C12 cell line to recapitulate myogenesis, we confirmed that SVCT2 is expressed in a biphasic fashion, reaching maximal levels upon early myoblasts fusion and decreasing during myotube growth. Together, these findings suggest that the dynamic expression levels of SVCT2 could be relevant for different features of skeletal muscle physiology, such as muscle cell formation, growth and activity.
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Acknowledgments
Our work has been supported by the Chilean National Science and Technology Fund (FONDECYT) grant 1100326 (to JPH), as well as by the CONICYT ART-24091056 (to DS). DS, JO, and ML are CONICYT fellowship recipients. The authors thank member of our laboratories for useful discussion and comments on the manuscript.
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Sandoval, D., Ojeda, J., Low, M. et al. The vitamin C transporter SVCT2 is down-regulated during postnatal development of slow skeletal muscles. Histochem Cell Biol 139, 887–894 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-012-1075-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-012-1075-4