Increased expression of titin in mouse gastrocnemius muscle in response to an endurance-training program

Titin, a sarcomeric giant protein, plays crucial roles in muscle assembly, elasticity and stability. Little is known about titin adaptation to endurance exercise. We studied the effects of endurance training on titin expression in mouse gastrocnemius muscles (MGM). Sixty-three ten-week-old male Swiss mice were divided into seven groups. Four groups were composed of untrained control animals (C0, C15, C30, C45) instead the other three included mice trained for 15 (T15), 30 (T30) and 45 (T45) days by treadmill. The training protocol was mainly aerobic, characterized by moderate-intensity, rhythmic and continuous exercises. Titin expression was determined by immunohistochemistry on MGM sections. Results revealed a significant reduction in body weight of the T45 mice and a significant increase in titin expression (% titin immunoreactivity median [range] = 41.11 [20-60] vs. 30.00 [10-50]). It is postulated that the up-regulation of titin expression is an adaptative mechanism to increase muscle elasticity and stability in response to the high number of stretch-shorten cycles during endurance training. Such a mechanism may be important for minimizing muscle energy consumption and improving performance during running.