Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Application of Chronic Stimulation to Study Contractile Activity-induced Rat Skeletal Muscle Phenotypic Adaptations
Published on: January 25, 2018
Acute-exercise-induced alterations in calpain and calpastatin expression in rat muscle
Lijing Wang1, Ligong Duan, Xukan Li
1First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing Medical University, and the Department of Physical Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Context:
Calpains and calpastatin can degrade muscle proteins, but no research has investigated the expression pattern of calpains and calpastatin after exhaustive exercise.
Objective:
To investigate the alterations in expression of micro-, m-, and n-calpain and calpastatin after exhaustive exercise and its association with muscle injury.
Method:
64 rats divided into 2 groups, a nonexercise control group and an acute-exhaustive-exercise (AEE) group. Biopsies in the AEE group were taken at different times after exercise.
Results:
Calpastatin protein expression and m-calpain activity increased early after exercise, but both n-calpain protein expression and micro-calpain activity generally decreased with time. n-Calpain mRNA expression was down-regulated from late after exercise.
Conclusions:
The increased m-calpain activity might promote muscle-protein degradation and muscle injury. On the contrary, calpastatin might execute a protective function against muscle injury. The change in micro-calpain activity was found earlier than muscle injury and therefore might serve as a useful predictor of muscle injury.
