Metabolic pathways for removing reactive aldehydes are diminished in the skeletal muscle during heart failure

Muscle wasting is a serious complication in heart failure patients. Oxidative stress and inflammation are implicated in the pathogenesis of muscle wasting. Oxidative stress leads to the formation of toxic lipid peroxidation products, such as 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), which covalently bind with proteins and DNA and activate atrophic pathways. Whether the formation of lipid peroxidation products and metabolic pathways that remove these toxic products are affected during heart failure-associated skeletal muscle wasting has never been studied. Male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to sham and transverse aortic constriction (TAC) surgeries for 4, 8 or 14 weeks. Different skeletal muscle beds were weighed, and the total cross-sectional area of the gastrocnemius muscle was measured via immunohistochemistry. Muscle function and muscle stiffness were measured by a grip strength meter and atomic force microscope, respectively. Atrophic and inflammatory marker levels were measured via qRT‒PCR. The levels of acrolein and HNE-protein adducts, aldehyde-removing enzymes, the histidyl dipeptide-synthesizing enzyme carnosine synthase (CARNS), and amino acid transporters in the gastrocnemius muscle were measured via Western blotting and qRT‒PCR. Histidyl dipeptides and histidyl dipeptide aldehyde conjugates in the Gastrocnemius and soleus muscles were analyzed by LC/MS-MS. Body weight, gastrocnemius muscle and soleus muscle weights and the total cross-sectional area of the gastrocnemius muscle were decreased after 14 weeks of TAC. Heart weight, cardiac function, grip strength and muscle stiffness were decreased in the TAC-operated mice. Expression of the atrophic and inflammatory markers Atrogin1 and TNF-α, respectively, was increased ~ 1.5-2fold in the gastrocnemius muscle after 14 weeks of TAC (p < 0.05 and p = 0.004 vs sham). The formation of HNE and acrolein protein adducts was increased, and the expression of the aldehyde-removing enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) was decreased in the gastrocnemius muscle of TAC mice. Carnosine (sham: 5.76 ± 1.3 vs TAC: 4.72 ± 0.7 nmol/mg tissue, p = 0.04) and total histidyl dipeptide levels (carnosine and anserine; sham: 11.97 ± 1.5 vs TAC: 10.13 ± 1.4 nmol/mg tissue, p < 0.05) were decreased in the gastrocnemius muscle of TAC mice. Depletion of histidyl dipeptides diminished the aldehyde removal capacity of the atrophic gastrocnemius muscle. Furthermore, CARNS and TAUT protein expression were decreased in the atrophic gastrocnemius muscle. Our data reveals that reduced expression of ALDH2 and depletion of histidyl dipeptides in the gastrocnemius muscle during heart failure leads to the accumulation of toxic aldehydes and might contribute to muscle wasting.