Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 31, 2025
06:05
Advanced Glycation End-Products Sensitize Human Sensory-Like Neuron Cells to Capsaicin-Induced Calcium Influx
Published on: May 2, 2025
699
Stimulation of myogenesis by ascorbic acid and capsaicin
Zhicheng Diao1, Tohru Matsui1, Masayuki Funaba1
1Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
|July 1, 2021
Summary
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid phosphate) combined with capsaicin enhances muscle development (myogenesis) in C2C12 cells. This combination effectively promotes the formation of thick, long myotubes and increases key muscle gene expression.
Area of Science:
- Muscle biology and cellular differentiation
- Nutritional biochemistry and oxidative stress
Background:
- Myogenesis is a complex cellular process crucial for muscle development.
- Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and oxidative stress can influence myogenesis.
- The role of vitamin C in modulating stress-induced effects on myogenesis requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional interaction between vitamin C (ascorbic acid phosphate - AsAp) and capsaicin on myogenesis in C2C12 cells.
- To determine if AsAp can alleviate negative effects of capsaicin-induced stress on muscle cell differentiation.
- To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying vitamin C's influence on capsaicin-modulated myogenesis.
Main Methods:
- C2C12 myoblast cell culture and differentiation induction.
- Treatment with capsaicin (ER and oxidative stress inducer) and AsAp (vitamin C derivative).
- Analysis of gene expression for ER stress markers, oxidative stress markers, myogenic genes (MYH), and collagen (Col1a1).
Main Results:
- Capsaicin alone increased ER and oxidative stress gene expression in undifferentiated C2C12 cells.
- Combined treatment of capsaicin pre-incubation followed by AsAp post-differentiation significantly enhanced myogenesis.
- Formation of thick, long myotubes and increased expression of myosin heavy chain (MYH) isoforms (Myh1, Myh4, Myh7) and Col1a1 were observed.
- AsAp appeared to mitigate the negative impacts of capsaicin-induced oxidative stress, thereby promoting myogenesis.
Conclusions:
- Ascorbic acid phosphate (AsAp) can stimulate myogenesis, particularly when cells are pre-treated with capsaicin.
- Vitamin C may enhance myogenesis by alleviating oxidative stress, suggesting a role in modulating the cellular microenvironment.
- The findings highlight vitamin C's potential as a myogenesis stimulator, contingent on cellular context and stress modulation.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Muscle Stimulation Frequency
3.7K
The contraction strength of muscles is regulated by motor neurons, which modulate the frequency of action potentials dispatched to the motor units based on the body's requirements. This process of varying the muscle stimulation frequency allows muscles to contract with a force that is precisely tailored to the needs of the moment, whether lifting a feather or a heavy box.
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...
3.7K
01:25Smooth Muscle Contraction
5.6K
Smooth muscle contraction is a complex process vital for various bodily functions, from maintaining blood vessel tension to facilitating the movement of food through the digestive tract. Unlike striated muscles, smooth muscle contraction begins more slowly and lasts longer.
The onset of contraction is triggered by an increase in calcium ions within the sarcoplasm, similar to the process in striated muscle. However, smooth muscles have a relatively smaller reservoir of the sarcoplasmic...
The onset of contraction is triggered by an increase in calcium ions within the sarcoplasm, similar to the process in striated muscle. However, smooth muscles have a relatively smaller reservoir of the sarcoplasmic...
5.6K
01:20Motor Unit Stimulation
2.9K
When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
2.9K