Fundamental Toxicological Sciences

Paper Details

Fundamental Toxicological Sciences
Vol. 11 No. 4 July 02, 2024 p.159-168
Original Article
Utility of urinary N-titin as a muscle atrophy biomarker in dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy model mice
  • Katsunori Ryoke (Toxicology Research Lab., Central Pharmaceutical Research Institute, JAPAN TOBACCO INC. / Department of Food and Nutritional Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture / katsunori.ryoke@jt.com)
Katsunori Ryoke 1) 2) , Kana Ishizuka 2) , Yuzo Yasui 1) 2) , Kazuma Kondo 1) , Noriko Suzuki-Kemuriyama 3) , Tatsuya Maekawa 3) , Katsuhiro Miyajima 2) 3)
1) Toxicology Research Lab., Central Pharmaceutical Research Institute, JAPAN TOBACCO INC. , 2) Department of Food and Nutritional Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture , 3) Department of Nutritional Science and Food Safety, Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture
Keywords: N-titin, Biomarker, Sarcopenia, Muscle atrophy
Abstracts

Titin is a giant protein that is specifically expressed in striated muscle and essential for the maintenance of sarcomere structure and function. Recently, the N-terminal fragment of the Titin (N-titin) has been reported to show high levels in human urine in patients with muscular diseases and is expected to serve as a diagnostic biomarker for these diseases. In this study, we examined the utility of N-titin as a biomarker to detect muscle atrophy in mice. Male BALB/c mice (6 weeks of age, n=5 per group) were given 10 mg/L dexamethasone (DEX) dissolved in drinking water for 4 weeks. The gastrocnemius muscle (GAS) weight was significantly decreased and mRNA levels of muscle atrophy-related genes (Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1) were increased in the GAS after 4 weeks of DEX treatment. Although there were no degenerative/necrotic changes in the histopathological examination, the muscle fiber cross-sectional area significantly decreased in the GAS. On the other hand, there were no DEX treatment-related changes in the muscle weights and the muscle fiber cross-sectional area in the soleus muscle. These results suggest that 4-week of DEX treatment preferentially caused atrophy of fast-dominant muscle. Under the condition of this study, urinary N-titin/CRN ratio markedly increased from Week 2 of the DEX treatment. From the above results, the urinary N-titin/CRN ratio could be a biomarker for monitoring skeletal muscle atrophy in mice.