HRasV12 induces apoptosis, not cellular senescence in mouse skeletal myoblasts

Aging is a key risk factor for sarcopenia, a progressive disorder affecting skeletal muscle. One hallmark of aging is cellular senescence. To investigate cellular senescence in mouse skeletal myoblasts, we attempted to induce cellular senescence by HRasV12. Unexpectedly, HRasV12 did not induce the expression of senescence markers such as p16 and p21, and no SA-β-gal-positive cells were observed in the myoblasts. Instead, HRasV12 elevated the levels of apoptotic markers such as cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-8, and the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 in the myoblasts. These findings suggested that HRasV12 does not induce senescence, but triggers apoptotic cell death in mouse skeletal myoblasts.