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Tibial Nerve Transection - A Standardized Model for Denervation-induced Skeletal Muscle Atrophy in Mice

Tibial Nerve Transection - A Standardized Model for Denervation-induced Skeletal Muscle Atrophy in Mice

Published on: November 3, 2013

Effects of Aging in Combination with High-Fat or Ketogenic Diet on Skeletal Muscle Atrophy Following Denervation in

Mantas Dirmontas¹, Petras Minderis², Aivaras Ratkevicius^1,3

¹Department of Health Promotion and Rehabilitation, Lithuanian Sports University, LT-44221 Kaunas, Lithuania.

|February 13, 2026

Abstract

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the interaction between aging and high-fat diet (HFD) or ketogenic diet (KD) on denervation-induced muscle atrophy.

Methods:

In this study, 6-, 19- and 27-month-old male mice were studied after 12 weeks' exposure to a regular chow diet, RD (kcal distribution: 13% fat, 57% carbohydrate, 30% protein), HFD (kcal distribution: 60% fat, 20% carbohydrates, 20% protein), or KD (kcal distribution: 80% fat, <1% carbohydrates, 20% protein). Gastrocnemius (GAS) and soleus (SOL) muscles were left denervated during the last 6 weeks of this 12-week dietary intervention (n = 10 for each group).

Results:

Denervation-induced atrophy was greater (p < 0.001) in GAS compared to SOL. There were no differences between type 1 and type 2 muscle fiber atrophy in adult SOL muscle. Muscle atrophy did not depend on the diet and was greater in adult than old mice. Both HFD and KD feeding reduced IGF-1 levels (p < 0.01) in GAS muscle compared with the RD independently of age. Myostatin levels in GAS muscle increased (p < 0.01) with age independently of the diets.

Conclusions:

Denervation-induced muscle atrophy does not depend on dietary fat intake and proceeds at a slower rate in old mice compared to adult mice.

Keywords:

aging high-fat diet ketogenic diet muscle atrophy muscle denervation

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