Cultured Myoblasts Derived from Rat Soleus Muscle Show Altered Regulation of Proliferation and Myogenesis during the Course of Mechanical Unloading

The structure and function of soleus muscle fibers undergo substantial remodeling under real or simulated microgravity conditions. However, unloading-induced changes in the functional activity of skeletal muscle primary myoblasts remain poorly studied. The purpose of our study was to investigate how short-term and long-term mechanical unloading would affect cultured myoblasts derived from rat soleus muscle. Mechanical unloading was simulated by rat hindlimb suspension model (HS). Myoblasts were purified from rat soleus at basal conditions and after 1, 3, 7, and 14 days of HS. Myoblasts were expanded in vitro, and the myogenic nature was confirmed by their ability to differentiate as well as by immunostaining/mRNA expression of myogenic markers. The proliferation activity at different time points after HS was analyzed, and transcriptome analysis was performed. We have shown that soleus-derived myoblasts differently respond to an early and later stage of HS. At the early stage of HS, the proliferative activity of myoblasts was slightly decreased, and processes related to myogenesis activation were downregulated. At the later stage of HS, we observed a decrease in myoblast proliferative potential and spontaneous upregulation of the pro-myogenic program.