Ursolic acid directly promotes protein accretion in myotubes but does not affect myoblast proliferation

Vandré Casagrande Figueiredo, Gustavo A. Nader

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ursolic acid (UA) has been recently proposed as a potential candidate for the treatment of muscle wasting conditions because of its protein sparring/anabolic effects. Despite this finding, it is unknown whether this response is the consequence of a direct effect on the muscle fibre or if it is mediated by neural or other systemic factors. In the present study, we sought to determine if UA has direct effects in skeletal muscle cells, whether it can increase myoblast proliferation and whether UA can become myotoxic at higher doses. Our results demonstrate that UA directly promoted protein accretion in cultured myotubes but did not modulate myoblast proliferation. At higher doses, UA compromised cell viability in both myoblasts and myotubes. We conclude that the anabolic properties of UA seen in vivo and in vitro are likely a direct effect on the muscle cell, but at higher doses, the benefits decline in favour of a myotoxic outcome.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)432-437
Number of pages6
JournalCell Biochemistry and Function
Volume30
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology

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