Altered expression of skeletal muscle proteins during sepsis

Sepsis induces a net catabolic state in gastrocnemius by increasing protein degradation and decreasing protein synthesis. To determine whether or not sepsis induces a preferential effect on the expression of individual proteins, proteins from gastrocnemius muscle of control and septic rats were separated by two-dimensional isoelectric focusing/sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Laser densitometry of proteins stained with silver provided evidence that the relative abundance of thirty-five proteins was significantly (p < .05) and reproducibly increased during sepsis compared to control. No individual protein underwent significant down-regulation in their relative abundance during sepsis. Twenty-three of the 35 proteins identified in two-dimensional gels of the gastrocnemius were also present in the plasma of septic rats. The remaining 12 proteins, therefore, were taken to represent skeletal muscle proteins. One of the 12 proteins was identified by immunoblot analysis to be carbonic anhydrase III. Another of the proteins was identified as triosephosphate isomerase based upon microsequencing of the N terminus.