All-Trans Retinoic Acid Drives Development Phase- Specific Response to Adipogenic and Myogenic Processes in Bovine Skeletal Muscle-Derived Cells

Abstract

Optimal muscle and intramuscular fat development are foundational to enhanced high-quality meat production in beef cattle, involving the proliferation and differentiation of key cellular populations, such as myoblasts and preadipocytes. Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for beef cattle and plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of numerous tissue types such as adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), the active form of vitamin A, on adipogenic and myogenic processes in bovine skeletal muscle-derived cells (BSMC). As a result, ATRA treatment significantly upregulated ZFP423 and MYF5 during the growth phase (P<0.05). Moreover, ATRA treatment in the growth phase significantly elevated mRNA expression markers,including FABP4 and PPARγ in adipogenesis (P<0.05), as well as MYOD, MYOG, and MYF6 in myogenesis (P<0.05). In addition, when used only in the differentiation phase, ATRA treatment significantly increased the mRNA expression of myogenesis markers (MYOD, MYOG, and MYF6) (P<0.05) but decreased the mRNA expression of adipogenesis markers (FABP4 and PPARγ) compared with the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the ATRA treatment in the growth phase of BSMC indirectly promoted hyperplasia of myoblasts and preadipocytes, and the effect continued into subsequent differentiations. However, ATRA treatment plays a different role in adipogenic and myogenic differentiation by regulating related mRNA. These results will provide a reference for the application of vitamin A from the fetal to the postnatal period in beef cattle production.

Keywords

• adipogenic process
• all-trans retinoic acid
• myogenic process
• zinc finger protein 423
• bovine skeletal muscle-derived cells