Muscle development, insulin-like growth factor-I and myostatin mRNA levels in chickens selected for increased breast muscle yield

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and myostatin (MSTN) are paracrine regulators of muscle growth. The present study was conducted to relate their expression with muscle fibre development in chickens selected for high breast meat yield and their controls. Both mRNA levels were measured by real-time RT-PCR in the Pectoralis major (PM) muscle between 14 days in ovo and 6 weeks post-hatch and in the Sartorius (SART) muscle between 2 and 6 weeks. The data show that PM growth was slow during in ovo development and rapid in the early post-hatch period. Chickens from the selected genotype exhibited significantly higher breast muscle yields from 2 to 6 weeks of age, and muscle fibre hypertrophy. In the PM, IGF-I and MSTN mRNA levels decreased markedly around hatch, while the IGF-I/MSTN ratio increased, suggesting that it could contribute to the explosive growth observed in the early post-hatch period. Between 4 and 6 weeks of age in selected chickens, IGF-I mRNA levels were significantly higher (p=0.04) with a similar trend in MSTN mRNA levels (p=0.07) in the PM muscle but not in the SART muscle. Our results support the hypothesis that the relative levels of IGF-I and MSTN mRNA may participate to set muscle growth rate along development, while other factors are required to explain differences between genotypes.