Scientific Reports (Dec 2022)

Genome-wide analysis of a cellular exercise model based on electrical pulse stimulation

  • Bora Lee,
  • Seon Kyu Kim,
  • Yeo Jin Shin,
  • Young Hoon Son,
  • Jae Won Yang,
  • Seung-Min Lee,
  • Yong Ryul Yang,
  • Kwang-Pyo Lee,
  • Ki-Sun Kwon

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25758-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Skeletal muscle communicates with other organs via myokines, which are secreted by muscle during exercise and exert various effects. Despite much investigation of the exercise, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood. Here, we applied an in vitro exercise model in which cultured C2C12 myotubes were subjected to electrical pulse stimulation (EPS), which mimics contracting muscle. Based on the significantly up- and down-regulated genes in EPS, we constructed an in silico model to predict exercise responses at the transcriptional level. The in silico model revealed similarities in the transcriptomes of the EPS and exercised animals. Comparative analysis of the EPS data and exercised mouse muscle identified putative biomarkers in exercise signaling pathways and enabled to discover novel exercise-induced myokines. Biochemical analysis of selected exercise signature genes in muscle from exercised mice showed that EPS mimics in vivo exercise, at least in part, at the transcriptional level. Consequently, we provide a novel myokine, Amphiregulin (AREG), up-regulated both in vitro and in vivo, that would be a potential target for exercise mimetics.