Stimulation of slow skeletal muscle fiber gene expression by calcineurin in vivo

Adult skeletal muscle fibers can be categorized into fast and slow twitch subtypes based on specialized contractile and metabolic properties and on distinctive patterns of muscle gene expression. Muscle fiber-type characteristics are dependent on the frequency of motor nerve stimulation and are thought to be controlled by calcium-dependent signaling. The calcium, calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase, calcineurin, stimulates slow fiber-specific gene promoters in cultured skeletal muscle cells, and the calcineurin inhibitor, cyclosporin A, inhibits slow fiber gene expression in vivo, suggesting a key role of calcineurin in activation of the slow muscle fiber phenotype. Calcineurin has also been shown to induce hypertrophy of cardiac muscle and to mediate the hypertrophic effects of insulin-like growth factor-1 on skeletal myocytes in vitro. To determine whether activated calcineurin was sufficient to induce slow fiber gene expression and hypertrophy in adult skeletal muscle in vivo, we created transgenic mice that expressed activated calcineurin under control of the muscle creatine kinase enhancer. These mice exhibited an increase in slow muscle fibers, but no evidence for skeletal muscle hypertrophy. These results demonstrate that calcineurin activation is sufficient to induce the slow fiber gene regulatory program in vivo and suggest that additional signals are required for skeletal muscle hypertrophy.     

Effect of moderate acute exercise on expression of mRNA involved in the calcineurin signaling pathway in human skeletal muscle

Calcineurin, a calcium-regulated protein phosphatase, activates gene expression specific to slow muscle fibers by dephosphorylating a family of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT), which cooperates with myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) and AP-1. However, it remains unknown how acute exercise influences this signaling pathway and leads to the development of slow muscle fibers. In the present study, we investigated the effect of moderate acute exercise on mRNA expression of genes in the calcineurin signaling pathway in human skeletal muscle. Five healthy volunteers underwent 1 h bicycle ergometer at 50%VO2max, and vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were collected before and after exercise. Four hours after exercise, alterations in mRNA expression of NFAT 1-3 were observed with a wide variety among subjects, while c-fos mRNA was significantly induced in all subjects. By contrast, the expression of calcineurin, MEF2, and myocyte-enriched calcineurin-interacting protein 1 (MCIP1) remained unchanged. These results suggest that even moderate acute exercise may change mRNA expression of genes in the calcineurin-signaling pathway.     

Calcineurin-A alpha activation enhances the structure and function of regenerating muscles after myotoxic injury

Calcineurin signaling is essential for successful muscle regeneration. Although calcineurin inhibition compromises muscle repair, it is not known whether calcineurin activation can enhance muscle repair after injury. Tibialis anterior (TA) muscles from adult wild-type (WT) and transgenic mice overexpressing the constitutively active calcineurin-A alpha transgene under the control of the mitochondrial creatine kinase promoter (MCK-CnA alpha*) were injected with the myotoxic snake venom Notexin to destroy all muscle fibers. The TA muscle of the contralateral limb served as the uninjured control. Muscle structure was assessed at 5 and 9 days postinjury, and muscle function was tested in situ at 9 days postinjury. Calcineurin stimulation enhanced muscle regeneration and altered levels of myoregulatory factors (MRFs). Recovery of myofiber size and force-producing capacity was hastened in injured muscles of MCK-CnA alpha* mice compared with control. Myogenin levels were greater 5 days postinjury and myocyte enhancer factor 2a (MEF2a) expression was greater 9 days postinjury in muscles of MCK-CnA alpha* mice compared with WT mice. Higher MEF2a expression in regenerating muscles of MCK-CnA alpha* mice 9 days postinjury may be related to an increase of slow fiber genes. Calcineurin activation in uninjured and injured TA muscles slowed muscle contractile properties, reduced fatigability, and enhanced force recovery after 4 min of intermittent maximal stimulation. Therefore, calcineurin activation can confer structural and functional benefits to regenerating skeletal muscles, which may be mediated in part by differential expression of MRFs.     

Matching of calcineurin activity to upstream effectors is critical for skeletal muscle fiber growth

Calcineurin-dependent pathways have been implicated in the hypertrophic response of skeletal muscle to functional overload (OV) (Dunn, S.E., J.L. Burns, and R.N. Michel. 1999. J. Biol. Chem. 274:21908-21912). Here we show that skeletal muscles overexpressing an activated form of calcineurin (CnA*) exhibit a phenotype indistinguishable from wild-type counterparts under normal weightbearing conditions and respond to OV with a similar doubling in cell size and slow fiber number. These adaptations occurred despite the fact that CnA* muscles displayed threefold higher calcineurin activity and enhanced dephosphorylation of the calcineurin targets NFATc1, MEF2A, and MEF2D. Moreover, when calcineurin signaling is compromised with cyclosporin A, muscles from OV wild-type mice display a lower molecular weight form of CnA, originally detected in failing hearts, whereas CnA* muscles are spared this manifestation. We also show that OV-induced growth and type transformations are prevented in muscle fibers of transgenic mice overexpressing a peptide that inhibits calmodulin from signaling to target enzymes. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that both calcineurin and its activity-linked upstream signaling elements are crucial for muscle adaptations to OV and that, unless significantly compromised, endogenous levels of this enzyme can accommodate large fluctuations in upstream calcium-dependent signaling events.     

Thyroid hormones and muscle phenotype: involvement of new signaling pathways

Thyroid hormones (TH) are known to control development, body and muscle growth, as well as to determine muscle phenotype in the adult. TH affect muscle properties through nuclear receptors; they act either by a positive or a negative control on target genes that encode proteins accounting for contractile or metabolic phenotypes. Contractile activity and muscle load also affect muscle phenotype; several intracellular signaling pathways are involved in the transduction of signals related to contractile activity, including the calcineurin/NFAT pathway. Calcineurin activity is negatively controlled by MCIP-1 protein (modulatory calcineurin-interacting protein-1). We recently performed an experiment aimed at examining the specific and combined effects of the pharmacological calcineurin inhibition (using cyclosporin-A CsA administration) and thyroid hormone deficiency. The expected effects of CsA administration were only observed if TH were available, while thyroid deficiency totally blunted the muscle responses to calcineurin inhibition. In conditions of thyroid hormone deficiency, there was no response to the pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin, usually known to induce a slow-to-fast IIA transition associated with an enhancement of mitochondrial biogenesis in normothyroid rats. Moreover, thyroid deficiency markedly decreased the expression of MCIP-1 and MCIP-2 mRNA and proteins, two endogenous calcineurin inhibitors; such results clearly suggest that thyroid hormone and calcineurin pathways are interconnected.