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Estrogen receptor alpha mRNA in human skeletal muscles
Sophie Lemoine1, Pascale Granier, Christophe Tiffoche
1Laboratoire de Physiologie et de Biomécanique de L'Exercice Musculaire, Université de Rennes II, Rennes, France. lemoine@cict.fr
Introduction/Purpose:
To explain the effect of estrogen on skeletal muscle, the presence of estrogen receptor alpha mRNA (ERalpha mRNA) was investigated in human skeletal muscle.
Methods:
The highly sensitive technique of nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) was applied on a variety of tissue samples of both sexes: women (deltoid, pectoral, and uterus muscles) (N= 3) and men (deltoid muscle) (N= 3). The total ribonucleic acid was isolated from each tissue sample, reverse transcribed in a thermocycler, and nested PCR was then performed with specific primers. The by-products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Internal standard 28S was simultaneously amplified. The ERalpha mRNA level was quantitated by using the ERalpha mRNA/28S mRNA ratio.
Results:
The expected 204-bp product corresponding to ERalpha was amplified in all tested tissue samples, i.e., deltoid, pectoral, and uterine muscles from women and deltoid muscle from men. The ERalpha mRNA/28S mRNA ratios indicating the receptor expression levels in deltoid muscle from men and women were 0.945 +/- 0.393 (mean +/- SD) (N= 3) and 0.973 +/- 0.136 (mean +/- SD) (N= 2), respectively.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, the nested RT-PCR technique identified the presence of transcript encoding ERalpha mRNA in human skeletal muscles. Semi-quantification did not reveal gender difference.