Therapeutic effect of androgen on skeletal muscle atrophy induced by glucocorticoid in rat / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the therapeatic effect of testosterone on skeletal muscle atrophy induced by dexamethasone in rat, and to explore the relationship between androgen and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) expression in skeletal muscle and serum. Methods Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups control group (CON) in which the rats were injected with saline and sesame oil for 10 days; dexamethasone group (DEX) in which the rats were injected with dexamethasone and sesame oil for 10 days; testosterone group (TES) in which the rats were injected with saline and testosterone for 13 days; and the testosterone+dexamethasone group (TES+DEX) in which the rats were injected with dexamethasone and testosterone. The animals were weighed daily. 24 hours following the final injection, animals were weighed and sacrificed. Blood samples were withdrawn from the abdominal aorta and centrifuged at 3 000r/min for 10min. The supernatant was collected and stored at -20?C. Gastrocnemius muscle was removed, weighed and stored at -80?C. IGF-1 mRNA expression in skeletal muscle was determined by real-time PCR. IGF-1 protein expression in serum was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Testosterone attenuated the body weight loss and gastrocnemius muscle weight loss in rats as a result of dexamethasone adminishation (P