Centrifugal intensity and duration as countermeasures to soleus muscle atrophy

Mechanical acceleration is a countermeasure that may be employed to prevent atrophy of slow-twitch muscle during non-weight bearing. In the present study, daily centrifugation of rats for different durations (1 or 2 h) and at different gravitational intensities (1.5 or 2.6 G) was used to test whether mechanical acceleration could ameliorate the atrophy of the soleus muscle induced by non-weight bearing (tail-traction model). The soleus muscle atrophied 32% during 7 days of non-weight bearing without countermeasures. Centrifugation treatment did not completely prevent atrophy relative to precontrol wet weight of the soleus muscle. Non-weight-bearing groups receiving 2-h daily treatments of 1, 1.5, or 2.6 G had 48, 56, and 65%, respectively, of the atrophy observed in the non-weight-bearing-only group compared with the precontrol group. No evidence was obtained that centrifugation at 2.6 G was more effective than exposure to 1 or 1.5 G as a countermeasure to non-weight-bearing-induced atrophy of the soleus muscle.