Myostatin, a member of the TGF-β superfamily, has been shown to act as a negative regulator of myogenesis. Although its role in myogenesis has been clearly documented through genetic analysis, few gene cascades that respond to myostatin signaling and regulate myogenesis have been characterized, especially in avian species. In a previous study, we screened for such genes in chicken fetal myoblas...

Myostatin is well established as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth, but its role in the heart is controversial. Our goal in this study was to characterize myostatin regulation following cardiomyocyte stress and to examine the role of myostatin in the regulation of cardiomyocyte size. Neonatal cardiomyocytes were cultured and stressed with phenylephrine. Adenovirus was used to overe...

Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth and fiber size. Changes in myostatin expression might contribute to changes in muscle mass associated with various conditions, and reducing the amount of active myostatin is a potential strategy for preventing or reversing muscle atrophy. The present study was done to determine the extent to which myostatin levels must decline to induce growth ...

Cachexia is a muscle-wasting syndrome that contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality of many patients with advanced cancers. However, little is understood about how the severe loss of skeletal muscle characterizing this condition occurs. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that the muscle protein myostatin is involved in mediating the pathogenesis of cachexia-induced muscl...

Myostatin, a secreted growth factor, is a key negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. To identify modifiers of Myostatin function, we screened for Myostatin interacting proteins. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we identified Titin-cap (T-cap) protein as interacting with Myostatin. T-cap is a sarcomeric protein that binds to the N-terminal domain of Titin and is a substrate of the titin k...

Kollias HD, McDermott JC. Transforming growth factorand myostatin signaling in skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol 104: 579 –587, 2008; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01091.2007.—The superfamily of transforming growth factor(TGF) cytokines has been shown to have profound effects on cellular proliferation, differentiation, and growth. Recently, there have been major advances in our understanding of the si...

Myogenesis is facilitated by four myogenic regulatory factors and is significantly inhibited by myostatin. The objective of the current study was to examine embryonic gene regulation of myostatin/myogenic regulatory factors, and subsequent manipulations of protein synthesis, in broiler embryos under induced hyperammonemia. Broiler eggs were injected with ammonium acetate solution four times ove...

Myostatin is a TGFβ family ligand that reduces muscle mass. In cancer cells, TGFβ signalling is increased by the protein FHL1. Consequently, FHL1 may promote signalling by myostatin. We therefore tested the ability of FHL1 to regulate myostatin function. FHL1 increased the myostatin activity on a SMAD reporter and increased myostatin dependent myotube wasting. In mice, independent expression of...

Recent studies have shown that myostatin, first identified as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth, may also be involved in the formation of fibrosis within skeletal muscle. In this study, we further explored the potential role of myostatin in skeletal muscle fibrosis, as well as its interaction with both transforming growth factor-beta1 and decorin. We discovered that myostatin stimu...