Identification of mouse soleus muscle proteins altered in response to changes in gravity loading

Gravity-dependent physical processes strongly affect the ability of elderly people to maintain musculoskeletal health by reducing muscle atrophy and increasing bone mineral density, thereby increasing quality of life. A need therefore exists to identify molecules in the musculoskeletal system that are responsive to gravitational loading and to establish an objective indicator for the maintenance of healthy musculoskeletal systems. Here, we performed an integrated assessment of the results of soleus muscle proteomic analyses in three model mouse experiments under different gravity environments (hypergravity, hindlimb unloading, and spaceflight). Myl6b, Gpd1, Fbp2, Pvalb, and Actn3 were shown to be gravity-responsive muscle proteins, and alterations in the levels of these proteins indicated changes in muscle fiber type to slow-twitch type due to gravity loading. In addition, immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays revealed that Pvalb levels in the sera of hindlimb-unloaded mice and osteoporosis patients were higher than in control subjects, suggesting that Pvalb levels might be useful to objectively evaluate soleus muscle atrophy and bone loss.