Summary
Skeletal muscle is a tissue that adapts to increased use by increasing contractile protein gene expression and ultimately skeletal muscle mass (hypertrophy). To identify hypertrophy-inducing agents that may be potentially useful in the treatment of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) and to better understand hypertrophy signal transduction pathways, we have created a skeletal muscle cell-based hypertrophy-responsive system. This system was created by permanently modifying the relatively undifferentiated C2C12 cell line so that it contains the β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) gene promoter and enhancer regions fused to a luciferase reporter gene. This cell line responds, by increasing luciferase expression, to a variety of skeletal muscle hypertrophy-inducing agents, including insulin, insulin-like growth factor I, testosterone, and the β-adrenergic receptor agonist isoproterenol, in both the undifferentiated and differentiated states. This cell-based system should be useful for identifying novel hypertrophy-inducing agents as well as understanding hypertrophy signal transduction.
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Cross-Doersen, D., Isfort, R.J. A novel cell-based system for evaluating skeletal muscle cell hypertrophy-inducing agents. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 39, 407–412 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1290/1543-706X(2003)039<0407:ANCSFE>2.0.CO;2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1290/1543-706X(2003)039<0407:ANCSFE>2.0.CO;2