Antioxidant Activity of Valeriana fauriei Protects against Dexamethasone-Induced Muscle Atrophy

Abstract

Skeletal muscle atrophy is defined as wasting or loss of muscle. Although glucocorticoids (GCs) are well-known anti-inflammatory drugs, their long-term or high-dose use induces skeletal muscle atrophy. Valeriana fauriei (VF) is used to treat restlessness, anxiety, and sleep disorders; however, its effects on skeletal muscle health have not been investigated. This study investigated whether Valeriana fauriei could ameliorate muscle atrophy. We induced muscle atrophy in vitro and in vivo, by treatment with dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic GC. In DEX-induced myotube atrophy, Valeriana fauriei treatment increased the fusion index and decreased the expression of muscle atrophic genes such as muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx/Atrogin-1) and muscle RING-finger protein 1 (MuRF1). In DEX-treated mice with muscle atrophy, Valeriana fauriei supplementation increased the ability to exercise, muscle weight, and cross-sectional area, whereas it inhibited myosin heavy chain isoform transition and the expression of muscle atrophy biomarkers. Valeriana fauriei treatment led to via the downregulation of muscle atrophic genes via inhibition of GC receptor translocation. Valeriana fauriei was also found to act as a reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger. Didrovaltrate (DI), an iridoid compound from Valeriana fauriei, was found to downregulate atrophic genes and decrease ROS in the DEX-induced myotube atrophy. Consolidated, our results indicate that Valeriana fauriei prevents DEX-induced muscle atrophy by inhibiting GC receptor translocation. Further, Valeriana fauriei acts as a ROS scavenger, and its functional compound is didrovaltrate. We suggest that Valeriana fauriei and its functional compound didrovaltrate possess therapeutic potentials against muscle atrophy.

Phytomelatonin content in Valeriana officinalis L. and some related phytotherapeutic supplements

“…Also, in trials in patients with neuropathies (Soltani et al, 2021), mental disorders such as Alzheimer's (Marde et al, 2022), and in pregnancy (Kennedy et al, 2013), the beneficial effects of valerian extracts, as well as other phytotherapeutics, have been proven with interesting results. Another attractive line of research with valerian is the studies against skeletal muscle atrophy, of great interest in athletes (Kim et al, 2022). Also, in in vitro studies, no harmful effects have been detected at high doses of tranquilizing herbs, including valerian (Spiess et al, 2021).…”

Preventive effects of the butanol fraction of Justicia procumbens L. against dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 myotubes

“…It has been reported that DEX induced excessive generation of ROS in osteoblast-like cells (MC3T3-E1) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) [ 46 , 47 ]. In addition, recent studies have shown that the increase of ROS formation in atrophy-induced C2C12 myotubes by DEX was significantly reduced by co-treatment of some natural products such as quercetin, morin, and Valeriana fauriei [ 48 , 49 , 50 ]. However, the preventive activity of JPBuFr on DEX-induced ROS formation in C2C12 myotubes is not yet clear.…”

Cornflower Extract and Its Active Components Alleviate Dexamethasone-Induced Muscle Wasting by Targeting Cannabinoid Receptors and Modulating Gut Microbiota

“…DMSO served as the vehicle control. Cell viability was assessed using the EZ-Cytox kit (DoGenBio, Seoul, Republic of Korea) following the manufacturer’s protocol as previously described [ 22 ]. Briefly, differentiated C2C12 myotubes were seeded in 96-well plates at 10,000 cells per well and cultured in DMEM.…”

“…Membranes were incubated with specific primary antibodies overnight at 4 • C, washed 3 times with TBST, and incubated with anti-mouse (1:1000, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX, USA) or anti-rabbit (1:5000, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) HRP-linked secondary antibodies for 2 h at 25 • C. Following TBST washes, protein bands were visualized using a chemiluminescence kit (ThermoFisher Scientific) and imaged on a LAS-4000 (Fujifilm, Minato, Japan). Band areas were quantified using ImageJ software as previously described [22].…”