Plasma and muscle myostatin in relation to type 2 diabetes

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 5; p. e37236
• Main Authors: Brandt, Claus, Nielsen, Anders R, Fischer, Christian P, Hansen, Jakob, Pedersen, Bente K, Plomgaard, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16.05.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adipocytes; Biology; Biopsy; Body composition; Body mass; Cell cycle; Cytokines; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - blood; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - genetics; Diabetes therapy; Female; Gene expression; Glucose; Human subjects; Humans; Inflammation; Insulin; Insulin - blood; Insulin resistance; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Interleukin 6; Kinases; Male; Medical research; Medicine; Mens health; Metabolism; Middle Aged; mRNA; Muscles; Muscles - metabolism; Musculoskeletal system; Myostatin; Myostatin - blood; Myostatin - metabolism; Oxygen consumption; Patients; Phosphorylation; Physical fitness; Physiological aspects; Plasma; RNA; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Rodents; Skeletal muscle; Sports training; Strength training; Type 2 diabetes; Womens health
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037236

Myostatin is a secreted growth factor expressed in skeletal muscle tissue, which negatively regulates skeletal muscle mass. Recent animal studies suggest a role for myostatin in insulin resistance. We evaluated the possible metabolic role of myostatin in patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy controls. 76 patients with type 2 diabetes and 92 control subjects were included in the study. They were matched for age, gender and BMI. Plasma samples and biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle were obtained to assess plasma myostatin and expression of myostatin in skeletal muscle. Patients with type 2 diabetes had higher fasting glucose (8.9 versus 5.1 mmol/L, P<0.001), plasma insulin (68.2 versus 47.2 pmol/L, P<0.002) and HOMA2-IR (1.6 versus 0.9, P<0.0001) when compared to controls. Patients with type 2 diabetes had 1.4 (P<0.01) higher levels of muscle myostatin mRNA content than the control subjects. Plasma myostatin concentrations did not differ between patients with type 2 diabetes and controls. In healthy controls, muscle myostatin mRNA correlated with HOMA2-IR (r = 0.30, P<0.01), plasma IL-6 (r = 0.34, P<0.05) and VO2 max (r = -0.26, P<0.05), however, no correlations were observed in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study supports the idea that myostatin may have a negative effect on metabolism. However, the metabolic effect of myostatin appears to be overruled by other factors in patients with type 2 diabetes.