Efeitos do treinamento resistido associado com decanoato de nandrolona sobre a expressão gênica de moduladores de vias de hipertrofia e atrofia do músculo esquelético

Abstract

Androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS) are spread among athletes and no athletes in order to improve performance or physical appearance. AAS targets the satellite cells in skeletal muscles, which are the major precursors of the skeletal muscle, and are essential for muscle growth and repair. When activated, in the presence of several factors, including myogenic differentiation factor D (MyoD), they proliferate and differentiate into new myofibers or myonuclei, resulting in increased protein synthesis. On the other hand, myostatin is able to inhibit cell cycle progression. Up-regulation of the expression of ubiquitin ligases, Atrogin-1 and muscle ring finger protein 1 (MuRF-1), results in increased muscle degradation. The understanding of AAS mechanism of action in skeletal muscle is critical for a better comprehension of muscular physiology under AAS use and abuse. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of resistance training associated to AAS supraphysiological dose on the expression of modulators of skeletal muscle pathways of atrophy and hypertrophy. Wistar rats were grouped into: sedentary (S); trained (T); S with AAS (A); and T with AAS (TA). Exercised groups performed jumps in water: 4 sets of 10 jumps each and 30-second of rest interval between series, for 7 weeks with a progressive overload of 50 to 80% of body weight. Nandrolone decanoate (5 mg/kg) was injected sc twice a week. After last exercise session animals were killed. Myostatin, MyoD, Atrogin-1 and Murf mRNA expression were determined in the gastrocnemius muscle extracts by real-time reverse transcriptase-polimerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The exercise did not change RNAm expression of any studied genes while AAS or its association with training increased atrogina-1 and reduced myostatin RNAm. The expression of MyoD and MuRF-1 was not altered by AAS. These results showed that both myostatin and atrogin-1, important genes of skeletal muscle related to cell cycle progression and protein degradation, are sensitive to supraphysiological doses of AAS.