No abstract

Although it is well known that catecholamines inhibit skeletal muscle protein degradation, the molecular underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study was undertaken to investigate the role of beta(2)-adrenoceptors (AR) and cAMP in regulating the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) in skeletal muscle. We report that increased levels of cAMP in isolated muscles, promoted by the cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobutylmethylxanthine was accompanied by decreased activity of the UPS, levels of ubiquitin-protein conjugates, and expression of atrogin-1, a key ubiquitin-protein ligase involved in muscle atrophy. In cultured myotubes, atrogin-1 induction after dexamethasone treatment was completely prevented by isobutylmethylxanthine. Furthermore, administration of clenbuterol, a selective beta(2)-agonist, to mice increased muscle cAMP levels and suppressed the fasting-induced expression of atrogin-1 and MuRF-1, atrogin-1 mRNA being much more responsive to clenbuterol. Moreover, clenbuterol increased the phosphorylation of muscle Akt and Foxo3a in fasted rats. Similar responses were observed in muscles exposed to dibutyryl-cAMP. The stimulatory effect of clenbuterol on cAMP and Akt was abolished in muscles from beta(2)-AR knockout mice. The suppressive effect of beta(2)-agonist on atrogin-1 was not mediated by PGC-1alpha (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1alpha known to be induced by beta(2)-agonists and previously shown to inhibit atrogin-1 expression), because food-deprived PGC-1alpha knockout mice were still sensitive to clenbuterol. These findings suggest that the cAMP increase induced by stimulation of beta(2)-AR in skeletal muscles from fasted mice is possibly the mechanism by which catecholamines suppress atrogin-1 and the UPS, this effect being mediated via phosphorylation of Akt and thus inactivation of Foxo3.

This study measures the curcumin concentration in rat plasma by liquid chromatography and investigates the changes in the glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity of streptozotocin-diabetic rats treated with curcumin-enriched yoghurt. The analytical method for curcumin detection was linear from 10 to 500 ng/mL. The C max⁡ and the time to reach C max⁡ (t max⁡) of curcumin in plasma were 3.14 ± 0.9 μg/mL and 5 minutes (10 mg/kg, i.v.) and 0.06 ± 0.01 μg/mL and 14 minutes (500 mg/kg, p.o.). The elimination half-time was 8.64 ± 2.31 (i.v.) and 32.70 ± 12.92 (p.o.) minutes. The oral bioavailability was about 0.47%. Changes in the glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity were investigated in four groups: normal and diabetic rats treated with yoghurt (NYOG and DYOG, resp.) and treated with 90 mg/kg/day curcumin incorporated in yoghurt (NC90 and DC90, resp.). After 15 days of treatment, the glucose tolerance and the insulin sensitivity were significantly improved in DC90 rats in comparison with DYOG, which can be associated with an increase in the AKT phosphorylation levels and GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscles. These findings can explain, at least in part, the benefits of curcumin-enriched yoghurt to diabetes and substantiate evidences for the curcumin metabolite(s) as being responsible for the antidiabetic activity.