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Introduction: The effect of constitutive inactivation of the gene encoding myostatin on the gain in muscle performance during postnatal growth has not been well characterized., Methods: We analyzed 2 murine myostatin knockout (KO) models, (i) the Lee model (KO Lee ) and (ii) the Grobet model (KO Grobet ), and measured the contraction of tibialis anterior muscle in situ., Results: Absolute maximal isometric force was increased in 6-month-old KO Lee and KO Grobet mice, as compared to wild-type mice. Similarly, absolute maximal power was increased in 6-month-old KO Lee mice. In contrast, specific maximal force (relative maximal force per unit of muscle mass was decreased in all 6-month-old male and female KO mice, except in 6-month-old female KO Grobet mice, whereas specific maximal power was reduced only in male KO Lee mice., Conclusions: Genetic inactivation of myostatin increases maximal force and power, but in return it reduces muscle quality, particularly in male mice. Muscle Nerve 55: 254-261, 2017., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Myostatin dysfunction promotes muscle hypertrophy, which can complicate assessment of muscle properties. We examined force generating capacity and creatine kinase (CK) efflux from skeletal muscles of young mice before they reach adult body and muscle size. Isolated soleus (SOL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles of Berlin high (BEH) mice with dysfunctional myostatin, i.e., homozygous for inactivating myostatin mutation, and with a wild-type myostatin (BEH+/+) were studied. The muscles of BEH mice showed faster (P < 0.01) twitch and tetanus contraction times compared with BEH+/+ mice, but only EDL displayed lower (P < 0.05) specific force. SOL and EDL of age-matched but not younger BEH mice showed greater exercise-induced CK efflux compared with BEH+/+ mice. In summary, myostatin dysfunction leads to impairment in muscle force generating capacity in EDL and increases susceptibility of SOL and EDL to protein loss after exercise.

Myostatin (Mstn) participates in the regulation of skeletal muscle size and has emerged as a regulator of muscle metabolism. Here, we hypothesized that lack of myostatin profoundly depresses oxidative phosphorylation-dependent muscle function. Toward this end, we explored Mstn(-/-) mice as a model for the constitutive absence of myostatin and AAV-mediated overexpression of myostatin propeptide as a model of myostatin blockade in adult wild-type mice. We show that muscles from Mstn(-/-) mice, although larger and stronger, fatigue extremely rapidly. Myostatin deficiency shifts muscle from aerobic toward anaerobic energy metabolism, as evidenced by decreased mitochondrial respiration, reduced expression of PPAR transcriptional regulators, increased enolase activity, and exercise-induced lactic acidosis. As a consequence, constitutively reduced myostatin signaling diminishes exercise capacity, while the hypermuscular state of Mstn(-/-) mice increases oxygen consumption and the energy cost of running. We wondered whether these results are the mere consequence of the congenital fiber-type switch toward a glycolytic phenotype of constitutive Mstn(-/-) mice. Hence, we overexpressed myostatin propeptide in adult mice, which did not affect fiber-type distribution, while nonetheless causing increased muscle fatigability, diminished exercise capacity, and decreased Pparb/d and Pgc1a expression. In conclusion, our results suggest that myostatin endows skeletal muscle with high oxidative capacity and low fatigability, thus regulating the delicate balance between muscle mass, muscle force, energy metabolism, and endurance capacity., (Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.)

The prolonged effect of myostatin deficiency on muscle performance in knockout mice has as yet been only poorly investigated. We have demonstrated that absolute maximal force is increased in 6-month old female and male knockout mice and 2-year old female knockout mice as compared to age- and sex-matched wildtype mice. Similarly, absolute maximal power is increased by myostatin deficiency in 6-month old female and male knockout mice but not in 2-year old female knockout mice. The increases we observed were greater in 6-month old female than in male knockout mice and can primarily result from muscle hypertrophy. In contrast, fatigue resistance was decreased in 6-month old knockout mice of both sexes as compared to age- and sex-matched wildtype mice. Moreover, in contrast to 2-year old female wildtype mice, aging in 2-year old knockout mice reduced absolute maximal force and power of both sexes as compared to their younger counterparts, although muscle weight did not change. These age-related decreases were lower in 2-year old female than in 2-year old male knockout mice. Together these results suggest that the beneficial effect of myostatin deficiency on absolute maximal force and power is greater in young (versus old) mice and female (versus male) mice. Most of these effects of myostatin deficiency are related neither to changes in the concentration of myofibrillar proteins nor to the slow to fast fiber type transition., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is no consensus about whether making muscles abnormally large by reducing myostatin activity affects force-generating capacity or the ability to perform activities requiring muscular endurance. We therefore examined grip force, contractile properties of extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles, and voluntary wheel running in mice in which myostatin was depleted after normal muscle development. Cre recombinase activity was induced to knock out exon 3 of the myostatin gene in 4-mo-old mice in which this exon was flanked by loxP sequences (Mstn[f/f]). Control mice with normal myostatin genes (Mstn[w/w]) received the same Cre-activating treatment. Myostatin depletion increased the mass of all muscles that were examined (gastrocnemius, quadriceps, tibialis anterior, EDL, soleus, triceps) by approximately 20-40%. Grip force, measured multiple times 2-22 wk after myostatin knockout, was not consistently greater in the myostatin-deficient mice. EDL contractile properties were determined 7-13 mo after myostatin knockout. Twitch force tended to be greater in myostatin-deficient muscles (+24%; P=0.09), whereas tetanic force was not consistently elevated (mean +11%; P=0.36), even though EDL mass was greater than normal in all myostatin-deficient mice (mean +36%; P<0.001). The force deficit induced by eccentric contractions was approximately twofold greater in myostatin-deficient than in normal EDL muscles (31% vs. 16% after five eccentric contractions; P=0.02). Myostatin-deficient mice ran 19% less distance (P<0.01) than control mice during the 12 wk following myostatin depletion, primarily because of fewer running bouts per night rather than diminished running speed or bout duration. Reduced specific tension (ratio of force to mass) and reduced running have been observed after muscle hypertrophy was induced by other means, suggesting that they are characteristics generally associated with abnormally large muscles rather than unique effects of myostatin deficiency.