Effects of elevated thyroid hormone on adult rabbit extraocular muscles

Developmental, Physiological and Phylogenetic Perspectives on the Expression and Regulation of Myosin Heavy Chains in Craniofacial Muscles

This review deals with the developmental origins of extraocular, jaw and laryngeal muscles, the expression, regulation and functional significance of sarcomeric myosin heavy chains (MyHCs) that they express and changes in MyHC expression during phylogeny. Myogenic progenitors from the mesoderm in the prechordal plate and branchial arches specify craniofacial muscle allotypes with different repertoires for MyHC expression. To cope with very complex eye movements, extraocular muscles (EOMs) express 11 MyHCs, ranging from the superfast extraocular MyHC to the slowest, non-muscle MyHC IIB (nmMyH IIB). They have distinct global and orbital layers, singly- and multiply-innervated fibres, longitudinal MyHC variations, and palisade endings that mediate axon reflexes. Jaw-closing muscles express the high-force masticatory MyHC and cardiac or limb MyHCs depending on the appropriateness for the acquisition and mastication of food. Laryngeal muscles express extraocular and limb muscle MyHCs but shift toward expressing slower MyHCs in large animals. During postnatal development, MyHC expression of craniofacial muscles is subject to neural and hormonal modulation. The primary and secondary myotubes of developing EOMs are postulated to induce, via different retrogradely transported neurotrophins, the rich diversity of neural impulse patterns that regulate the specific MyHCs that they express. Thyroid hormone shifts MyHC 2A toward 2B in jaw muscles, laryngeal muscles and possibly extraocular muscles. This review highlights the fact that the pattern of myosin expression in mammalian craniofacial muscles is principally influenced by the complex interplay of cell lineages, neural impulse patterns, thyroid and other hormones, functional demands and body mass. In these respects, craniofacial muscles are similar to limb muscles, but they differ radically in the types of cell lineage and the nature of their functional demands.

Thyroid hormone upregulates MDM2 in rat type I fibre: Implications for skeletal muscle mass regulation

AIM

Based upon a microarray assay, we have identified that triiodothyronine (T3) upregulates MDM2 gene expression in the rat skeletal muscle. As MDM2 protein is an E3 ligase, we hypothesized that this enzyme could play a role in T3 effects on skeletal muscle mass control.

METHODS

To test our hypothesis, male rats (2 months old) were randomly assigned into the following groups: intact controls, treated with 20 physiological doses of T3 for 0.5, 1 and 7 days, or with 5, 20 and 50 physiological doses of T3 for 7 days. For in vitro experiments, myotubes and C2C12 cells were treated with T3 for 3 days.

RESULTS

After validation of the microarray finding throughout RT-PCR and confirmation that T3 induces increases in MDM2 protein expression in a dose-dependent manner, we observed that MDM2 was upregulated by T3 exclusively in fibre type I. Moreover, detailed histological evaluation showed that MDM2 overexpression distributes punctiformily along the cross section of the fibre and also inside nuclei. MDM2 colocalizes with PAX7 in control muscle and T3 downregulates this myogenic factor. Pharmacological inhibition of MDM2 in cultured myotubes caused a severe decrease in their diameter (~35%, P < .001 vs Control), enhancing the effect of T3 (from ~12% to ~35%, P < .001) alone upon myotube diameter and mRNA levels of atrogenes. Finally, we observed that FOXO3 (MDM2 target) is kept outside the nucleus under T3 stimulation.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that MDM2 might be involved in the pro-trophic effects of T3 in skeletal muscle.

Carbonylation of atrial myosin prolongs its interaction with actin

Carbonylation induced by hyperthyroidism suppresses force generation of skeletal myosin and sliding velocity of actin filaments in an in vitro motility assay. However, its effects on cardiac myosin at the molecular level have not been studied. Hyperthyroidism induces a change in expression of myosin heavy chains in ventricles, which may mask the effect of oxidation. In contrast to ventricular myosin, expression of myosin heavy chains in the atrium does not change upon hyperthyroidism and enables investigation of the effect of oxidation on cardiac myosin. We studied the influence of carbonylation, a type of protein oxidation, on the motor function of atrial myosin and Ca²⁺ regulation of actin-myosin interaction at the level of isolated proteins and single molecules using an in vitro motility assay and an optical trap. Carbonylation of atrial myosin prolonged its attached state on actin and decreased maximal sliding velocity of thin filaments over this myosin but did not affect the calcium sensitivity of the velocity. The results indicate that carbonylation of atrial myosin induced by hyperthyroidism can be a rate-limiting factor of atrium contractility and so participates in the genesis of heart failure in hyperthyroidism.

Adaptability of the Immature Ocular Motor Control System: Unilateral IGF-1 Medial Rectus Treatment

PURPOSE

Unilateral treatment with sustained release IGF-1 to one medial rectus muscle in infant monkeys was performed to test the hypothesis that strabismus would develop as a result of changes in extraocular muscles during the critical period of development of binocularity.

METHODS

Sustained release IGF-1 pellets were implanted unilaterally on one medial rectus muscle in normal infant monkeys during the first 2 weeks of life. Eye position was monitored using standard photographic methods. After 3 months of treatment, myofiber and neuromuscular size, myosin composition, and innervation density were quantified in all rectus muscles and compared to those in age-matched controls.

RESULTS

Sustained unilateral IGF-1 treatments resulted in strabismus for all treated subjects; 3 of the 4 subjects had a clinically significant strabismus of more than 10°. Both the treated medial rectus and the untreated ipsilateral antagonist lateral rectus muscles had significantly larger myofibers. No adaptation in myofiber size occurred in the contralateral functionally yoked lateral rectus or in myosin composition, neuromuscular junction size, or nerve density.

CONCLUSIONS

Sustained unilateral IGF-1 treatment to extraocular muscles during the sensitive period of development of orthotropic eye alignment and binocularity was sufficient to disturb ocular motor development, resulting in strabismus in infant monkeys. This could be due to altering fusion of gaze during the early sensitive period. Serial measurements of eye alignment suggested the IGF-1-treated infants received insufficient coordinated binocular experience, preventing the establishment of normal eye alignment. Our results uniquely suggest that abnormal signaling by the extraocular muscles may be a cause of strabismus.

RNA expression analysis of passive transfer myasthenia supports extraocular muscle as a unique immunological environment

PURPOSE

Myasthenia gravis demonstrates a distinct predilection for involvement of the extraocular muscles (EOM), and we have hypothesized that this may be due to a unique immunological environment. To assess this hypothesis, we took an unbiased approach to analyze RNA expression profiles in EOM, diaphragm, and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) in rats with experimentally acquired myasthenia gravis (EAMG).

METHODS

Experimentally acquired myasthenia gravis was induced in rats by intraperitoneal injection of antibody directed against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR), whereas control rats received antibody known to bind the AChR but not induce disease. After 48 hours, animals were killed and muscles analyzed by RNA expression profiling. Profiling results were validated using qPCR and immunohistochemical analysis.

RESULTS

Sixty-two genes common among all muscle groups were increased in expression. These fell into four major categories: 12.8% stress response, 10.5% immune response, 10.5% metabolism, and 9.0% transcription factors. EOM expressed 212 genes at higher levels, not shared by the other two muscles, and a preponderance of EOM gene changes fell into the immune response category. EOM had the most uniquely reduced genes (126) compared with diaphragm (26) and EDL (50). Only 18 downregulated genes were shared by the three muscles. Histological evaluation and disease load index (sum of fold changes for all genes) demonstrated that EOM had the greatest degree of pathology.

CONCLUSIONS

Our studies demonstrated that consistent with human myasthenia gravis, EOM demonstrates a distinct RNA expression signature from EDL and diaphragm, which is based on differences in the degree of muscle injury and inflammatory response.

Postulating a role for connective tissue elements in inferior oblique muscle overaction (an American Ophthalmological Society thesis)

PURPOSE

To compare the localization and density of collagens I, IV, VI, and elastin, the major protein components of connective tissue, in the inferior oblique muscle of patients with overelevation in adduction and in controls and to characterize changes that develop following surgery. Biomechanical studies suggest that the connective tissue matrix plays a critical role in extraocular muscle function, determining tensile strength and force transmission during contraction.

METHODS

Prospective laboratory-based case-control study of inferior oblique muscle specimens from 31 subjects: 16 with primary inferior oblique overaction, 6 with craniofacial dysostosis, and 9 normal controls. Collagen I, IV, VI, and elastin were localized and quantified using immunohistochemical staining. Densities were compared using analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons.

RESULTS

In primary inferior oblique overaction, all connective tissue components in unoperated specimens were elevated compared to controls (P<.0001). Previously operated muscles showed normal levels of collagens IV and VI (P>.27) but increased collagen I. In unoperated craniofacial dysostosis specimens, only elastin was elevated (P=.03), whereas density of collagens IV and VI was lower in previously operated vs unoperated specimens (P=.015).

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated collagen and elastin levels in the cohort with primary inferior oblique overaction are consistent with the clinical finding of muscle stiffness. Contrarily, normal connective tissue densities in craniofacial dysostosis support the hypothesis that overelevation in this group reflects anomalous muscle vectors rather than tissue changes. Surgical intervention was associated with changes in the connective tissue matrix in both cohorts. These results have ramifications for treating patients with overelevation in adduction.

Effects of hyperthyroidism on the rectus muscles in mice

Background: Structural details of vertebrate extraocular muscles (EOMs) have shown an anatomically and functionally distinct laminar organization into an outer orbital (OL) and an inner global layer (GL). Since hyperthyroidism alters tissue oxidative metabolism through mitochondrial enzymes, it is expected that structural/mitochondrial changes may be seen in hyperthyroid EOMs. We investigated the alterations in the laminar organization and mitochondrial changes in hyperthyroid mouse EOMs. Methods: Hyperthyroidism was induced in C57BL/6 mice and fresh rectus muscles were obtained to identify functional mitochondria using MitoTracker® Green and confocal microscopy; frozen sections from rectus muscles were stained with anti-rabbit Troponin T (selectively present in the OL) to demonstrate changes in the OL and GL of the EOMs. Ultrastructural features of EOMs were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: Of all four rectus EOMs studied, the maximum change was seen in the inferior rectus muscle (IR) followed by medial rectus (MR). Myofiber cross-sectional area measurements and Troponin T staining in the control IR EOMs demonstrated a smaller OL (113.2 ± 3.66 μm²) and higher density staining with Troponin T (90%) and a larger GL (411 ± 13.84 μm²) with low intensity staining (10%), while hyperthyroidism resulted in an increased OL (205.9 ± 5.3 μm²) and decreased GL (271.7 ± 7.5 μm²) p = 0.001. Confocal microscopy demonstrated an intense staining especially in the outer rims in the hyperthyroid IR which was confirmed by TEM showing structural alterations in the mitochondria and a subsarcolemmal migration. Conclusions: The outer, thinner, OL of the mouse EOM contains smaller diameter myofibers and fewer mitochondria while the inner, larger GL contains larger diameter myofibers and larger density of mitochondria. Hyperthyroidism results in a significant alteration in the laminar organization and mitochondrial alterations of mouse EOMs.

Effects of recession versus tenotomy surgery without recession in adult rabbit extraocular muscle

PURPOSE

Surgical recession of an extraocular muscle (EOM) posterior to its original insertion is a common form of strabismus surgery, weakening the rotational force exerted by the muscle on the globe and improving eye alignment. The purpose of this study was to assess myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform expression and satellite cell activity as defined by Pax7 expression in recessed EOMs of adult rabbits compared with that in muscles tenotomized but not recessed and with that in normal control muscles.

METHODS

The scleral insertion of the superior rectus muscle was detached and sutured either 7 mm posterior to its original insertion site (recession surgery) or at the same site (tenotomy). One day before euthanization, the rabbits received bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) injections. After 7 and 14 days, selected EOMs from both orbits were examined for changes in fast, slow, neonatal, and developmental MyHC isoform expression, Pax7 expression, and BrdU incorporation.

RESULTS

Recession and tenotomy surgery resulted in similar changes in the surgical EOMs. These included a decreased proportion of fast MyHC myofibers, an increased proportion of slow MyHC myofibers, and increased BrdU-positive satellite cells. Similar changes were seen in the non-operated contralateral superior rectus muscles. The ipsilateral inferior rectus showed reciprocal changes to the surgical superior rectus muscles.

CONCLUSIONS

The EOMs are extremely adaptive to changes induced by recession and tenotomy surgery, responding with modulations in fiber remodeling and myosin expression. These adaptive responses could be manipulated to improve surgical success rates.