0000000000867391
AUTHOR
Carlos Puchades
Allopurinol partially prevents disuse muscle atrophy in mice and humans
AbstractDisuse muscle wasting will likely affect everyone in his or her lifetime in response to pathologies such as joint immobilization, inactivity or bed rest. There are no good therapies to treat it. We previously found that allopurinol, a drug widely used to treat gout, protects muscle damage after exhaustive exercise and results in functional gains in old individuals. Thus, we decided to test its effect in the prevention of soleus muscle atrophy after two weeks of hindlimb unloading in mice, and lower leg immobilization following ankle sprain in humans (EudraCT: 2011-003541-17). Our results show that allopurinol partially protects against muscle atrophy in both mice and humans. The pro…
Oxidative Stress and Ubiquitin Ligases: their involvement in skeletal muscle atrophy
Introduction Muscle atrophy plays a relevant role in the many very prevalent diseases. Generation of reactive oxygen species (mainly by the xanthine oxidase) and inflammation are two of the main triggers of muscle atrophy. Aim The major aim of our study was to determine the mechanism by which reactive oxygen species activate E3 ubiquitin ligases (MuRF-1 and MAFbx) cause muscle atrophy. Possible prevention by allopurinol, a well-known xanthine oxidase inhibitor widely used in clinical practice; and by indomethacin, a non-steroidal antiinflamatory drug was also studied. Materials and methods Male C57BL/6J mice (3 months old) conditioned by 14 days of hindlimb unloading with or without each tr…