BoneKEy Reports | BoneKEy Watch
Clarifying the role of myostatin after bone and muscle injury
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2012.42
It is thought likely that myostatin plays an important role in bone and muscle regeneration and Elkasrawy et al. have now elucidated that role more precisely. They used immunohistochemical staining to investigate how myostatin was expressed after a deep penetrating injury in a murine model, showing that injured skeletal muscle fibers express high levels of myostatin during the first 48 hours after injury. Four days after injury, enhanced expression of myostatin also occured in the chondrocytes that make up the soft fracture callus.
This is the first study to show strong expression of myostatin in actively dividing chondrocytes during endochondral ossification. It suggests that myostatin has an autocrine function in the chondrocytes of the soft callus that forms after injury, and that myostatin is expressed by tissues other than muscle.
When the researchers applied recombinant myostatin to the injury site in a hydrogel formulation, they found a reduction in chondrogenesis and a lower fracture callus bone volume, and observed that muscle regeneration was significantly impaired. These effects were myostatin dose-dependent.
Editor's comment: This fracture and muscle injury study in mice provides evidence that myostatin is involved in bone repair. Exogenous myostatin decreased cartilage and bone volume in the repair and contributed to muscle fibrosis, setting the stage for myostatin inhibitor-based treatments.
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