Myosin heavy chain turnover and glucocorticoid deterrence by exercise in muscle

This study was undertaken to determine whether regular endurance running, of the type known to attenuate glucocorticoid-induced muscle atrophy, produces a reversal of the glucocorticoid-mediated suppression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) synthesis. Female rats were arbitrarily assigned to one of four groups. There were two sedentary groups that received either a vehicle (1% aqueous carboxymethyl cellulose) or cortisol acetate (100 mg/kg body wt) for 11 consecutive days and two exercise (treadmill running 29 m/min, 90 min/day, for 11 consecutive days) groups that received the activity simultaneously with either vehicle or steroid treatments. Protein synthesis measurements were performed by constant infusion of [3H]leucine. Fractional synthesis rates of MHC were determined from the leucyl-tRNA precursor pool, which was similar in all groups (range 2.85 +/- 0.32 to 3.51 +/- 0.43 dpm/pmol). Exercise prevented 30% of the plantaris muscle mass loss as the result of cortisol acetate treatment. MHC synthesis rates (%/day) in plantaris muscles of sedentary animals were reduced by glucocorticoid treatment to 65% (6.2/9.5) of the vehicle-treated group. Exercise did not alter this depression of MHC synthesis. The combination of exercise and glucocorticoid treatment reduced the calculated MHC breakdown rate (%/day) to 80% (-8.0/-10.1) of the rate resulting from hormone treatment alone and 60% (-8.0/-13.3) of the rate resulting from exercise alone. These results show that endurance exercise does not reverse the glucocorticoid inhibition of MHC synthesis in muscle but may act through reducing MHC breakdown.