The prion agent has been detected in skeletal muscle of humans and animals with prion diseases. Here we report scrapie infection of murine C2C12 myoblasts and myotubes in vitro following coculture with a scrapie-infected murine neuroblastoma (N2A) cell line but not following incubation with a scrapie-infected nonneuronal cell line or a scrapie brain homogenate. Terminal differentiation of scrap...

Osteoblastic activity of nectandrin A was examined in C2C12 cells. Nectandrin A enhances the BMP-induced osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization, manifested by the up-regulation of differentiation markers (alkaline phosphatase and osteogenic genes) and increased calcium contents. In C2C12 cells co-transfected with expression vector encoding Smad4 and Id1-Luc reporter, nectandrin A incre...

The present study investigated the synergistic effect of co‑administering fibroblast growth factor‑2 (FGF‑2) and bone morphogenetic protein‑2 (BMP‑2) on osteoblastic differentiation in C2C12 cells and in rats. C2C12 murine myoblast cells represent a well‑accepted in vitro model system to study the ability of BMP‑2 to alter cell lineage from the myogenic to the osteogenic phenotype. The osteobla...

In our previous study, we identified an miRNA regulatory network involved in energy metabolism in porcine muscle. To better understand the involvement of miRNAs in cellular ATP production and energy metabolism, here we used C2C12 myoblasts, in which ATP levels increase during differentiation, to identify miRNAs modulating these processes. ATP level, miRNA and mRNA microarray expression profiles...

Objective: ST6 beta-galactosamide α-2,6-sialyltranferase 1 (ST6GAL1), the major α2,6sialyltransferase responsible for the broad synthesis of glycoproteins and glycolipids, is another physiological substrate of Beta site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) other than amyloidbeta precursor protein (AbetaPP). We have previously shown that AbetaPP overexpression in C2C12 mouse myoblast cell line increase...

Myocytes withdraw from the cell cycle to differentiate during muscle development. Given the capacity of microRNAs (miRNAs) to regulate gene expression during development, we screened for miRNAs that were associated with muscle development. S-Poly(T) Plus analysis of 273 miRNAs in porcine longissimus dorsi muscles revealed 14 miRNAs that were strongly upregulated with age of postnatal muscle dev...

OBJECTIVE The root of Helicteres angustifolia L. (Sterculiaceae) has been used as tea to treat diabetics effectively by local people in Laos. However, no scientific evidence is available for this ethnomedicinal usage. This study was undertaken to explore the hypoglycemic effect of aqueous extract from Helicteres angustifolia root. PATIENTS AND METHODS The effect of aqueous extract from Helict...

Skeletal muscle is rich in lymphatic vessels, with an abundant blood supply, and it is an infrequent site of cancer metastasis. Previous studies have demonstrated that enhanced secretion of MyoD may occur when skeletal muscle is injured or becomes cancerous. It was hypothesized that MyoD may act as an endogenous cytokine to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells. To verify the possible effec...

The prevention of muscle wasting is important for maintaining quality of life, since loss of muscle mass can lead to a bedridden state and decreased resistance to diseases. The prevention of muscle wasting requires an increase in protein synthesis and a decrease in protein degradation in skeletal muscle. We previously showed that lysine (Lys) markedly suppressed myofibrillar protein degradation...