Figure 1

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC)-1β, in contrast to PGC-1α, does not induce expression of utrophin and other neuromuscular junction (NMJ) genes. (A) Expression of PGC-1α and PGC-1β in the gastrocnemius of 5-week-old male control (wild-type; WT) and dystrophin-deficient (mdx) mice was examined by isolating mRNA, performing reverse transcription, followed by quantitative PCR (n = 4). (B) Five-week-old male mice with transgenic overexpression of PGC-1α in muscle cells (MCK-PGC-1α), or male mice with transgenic overexpression of PGC-1β in muscle cells (MCK-PGC-1β) (n = 5 each group). Genes of the NMJ and genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation (Ox-Phos) were analyzed. Bars depict relative mRNA expression. (C) Heat map of the 25 most highly expressed mitochondrial genes (left) and the 25 most highly expressed NMJ genes (right) from microarrays of RNA isolated from quadriceps of WT and MCK-PGC-1β mice. (D) Primary myotubes in cell culture were infected with control adenovirus (WT), recombinant PGC-1α adenovirus (Ad-PGC-1α) or recombinant PGC-1β adenovirus (Ad-PGC-1β). Cells were harvested 48 hours after infection and mRNA expression determined by quantitative PCR. Bars depict relative mRNA expression, error bars represent SEM. *P < 0.05. AChR, acetylcholine receptor.