Muscle-specific response to thyroid hormone of myosin isoform transitions during rat postnatal development

Transitions from embryonic and neonatal to adult-type-II isomyosins are known to be related to the increase in the thyroid hormone plasma concentration during postnatal development. These transitions have been shown, however, to occur at different times, depending on the muscle, suggesting that each muscle responds differently to the thyroid hormone. We have investigated quantitatively the effects of experimental hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism on isomyosin transitions from birth until the 45th postnatal day in eight rat muscles: diaphragm, intercostals, gastrocnemius medialis, soleus, plantar muscles of the foot, tongue muscle, levator ani and bulbocavernosus complex, and masseter. Hypothyroidism delayed the isomyosin transitions in all the muscles examined, particularly in the sexually dimorphic muscles (levator ani and bulbocavernosus complex and masseter). However, it did not eventually inhibit isomyosin transitions, indicating that the thyroid hormone was not an absolute requirement for these to occur. Hyperthyroidism had only a slight effect on isomyosin transition in the diaphragm, and accelerated such transitions in the other muscles. The transition curves of all the muscles investigated, except those of the sexually dimorphic muscles, became similar to that of the diaphragm, demonstrating that the various muscles did not display the same sensitivity to the thyroid hormone but were regulated by it in the same way. The isomyosin transitions in the sexually dimorphic muscles remained late in comparison to that in the diaphragm, which suggests a more complex regulation. The effect of hyperthyroidism was not permanent and could be reversed, by interruption of the treatment, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the muscle. In all muscles containing slow-type-I isomyosin, hypothyroidism had no effect on this isomyosin synthesis, whereas hyperthyroidism inhibited it. This inhibition ceased rapidly after the interruption of the treatment.