Msf. Clarke et Dl. Feeback, MECHANICAL LOAD INDUCES SARCOPLASMIC WOUNDING AND FGF RELEASE IN DIFFERENTIATED HUMAN SKELETAL-MUSCLE CULTURES, The FASEB journal, 10(4), 1996, pp. 502-509
The transduction mechanism (or mechanisms) responsible for converting
a mechanical load into a skeletal muscle growth response are unclear,
In this study we have used a mechanically active tissue culture model
of differentiated human skeletal muscle cells to investigate the relat
ionship between mechanical load, sarcolemma wounding, fibroblast growt
h factor release, and skeletal muscle cell growth, Using the Flexcell
Strain Unit we demonstrate that as mechanical load increases, so too d
oes the amount of sarcolemma wounding. A similar relationship was also
observed between the level of mechanical load inflicted on the cells
and the amount of bFGF (FGF2) released into the surrounding medium. In
addition, we demonstrate that the muscle cell growth response induced
by chronic mechanical loading in culture can be inhibited by the pres
ence of an antibody capable of neutralizing the biological activity of
FGF. This study provides direct evidence that mechanically induced, s
arcolemma wound-mediated FGF release is an important autocrine mechani
sm for transducing the stimulus of mechanical load into a skeletal mus
cle growth response.