Contribution to Book
Myostatin: Physiology and Applications
Encyclopedia of Animal Science
(2011)
Abstract
Myostatin is a potent inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth. Myostatin knockout mice are characterized by an increase in muscle mass, caused by a combination of hypertrophy and hyperplasia. The increase in muscle weight gain in double‐muscled cattle has been correlated with mutations in myostatin gene, but these animals develop only hyperplasia of muscle fibers leading to increased muscular development, rather than the combination as seen in myostatin‐null mice. Recent studies identified a loss‐of‐function mutation in the myostatin gene, suggesting that the inactivation of myostatin has similar effects in humans, mice, dogs, and cattle. Furthermore, depletion or inactivation of myostatin has led to a significant improvement in muscle regeneration processes, and the relevance of myostatin to treatment of muscular dystrophy in humans is also currently investigated. This raises the exciting possibilities for myostatin inhibitors as therapeutics and may provide a novel pharmacological strategy for treatment of diseases associated with muscle wasting in humans.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2011
Editor
Wilson G. Pond, Duane E. Ullrey, Charlotte Kirk Baer
Publisher
CRC Press
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1081/E-EAS2
Citation Information
Clifton A Baile, Mary Anne Della-Fera, Jeong-Yeh Yang and Srujana Rayalam. "Myostatin: Physiology and Applications" 2Boca Raton, FLEncyclopedia of Animal Science (2011) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/srujana_rayalam/58/