Control of myosin heavy chain expression: interaction of hypothyroidism and hindlimb suspension

The aim of this study was to contrast competing influences, hypothyroidism and hindlimb suspension, on myosin heavy chain (MHC) expression studied at the protein level and mRNA level. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to either normal control (NC), normal suspended (NS), or hypothyroid (thyroidectomized) control (TC) and suspended (TS) groups. NS and TS animals were suspended for 14 days following which myofibrils and total RNA were purified from the hindlimb muscles. In the soleus and vastus intermedius (VI), there was an increase in type I MHC and a decrease in type IIa MHC in both the TC and TS groups and a decrease in type I and increase in type IIa MHC in the NS group. At the mRNA level, similar shifts were observed with the exception that 1) the increased type IIa MHC seen in the soleus and VI of the NS animals was not accompanied by an increase in IIa mRNA and 2) type IIb mRNA was increased in the NS soleus without concomitant changes in IIb protein levels. These data suggest the following: 1) a hypothyroid state predominates over mechanical unweighting factors in the control of MHC distribution in slow muscles; and 2) translational or posttranslational factors may be important in the regulation of type IIa and IIb MHC expression during hindlimb suspension.