The intracellular regulation of protein degradation during sepsis is different in fast- and slow-twitch muscle. Tiao, Greg, Michael Lieberman, Josef E. Fischer, and Per-Olof Hasselgren. Departments of Surgery and Molecular Biology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio and the Shriners Burns Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio
APStracts 3:0376R, 1996.
We tested the hypothesis that the difference in the response to sepsis of protein breakdown between fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscle reflects differential activation of the energy-ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway. In addition, we defined the time course and the tissue specificity of sepsis-induced changes in the expression of the ubiquitin pathway. Sepsis was induced in rats by cecal ligation and puncture; control rats were sham-operated. Energy-dependent protein breakdown was measured in incubated extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and soleus muscles. Ubiquitin mRNA levels were determined by Northern blot analysis. Sepsis resulted in increased energy-dependent protein breakdown and upregulated expression of ubiquitin mRNA in the fast -twitch EDL but not in the slow-twitch soleus muscle. The sepsis -induced increase in ubiquitin mRNA levels in the EDL muscle was noticeable before the increase in energy-dependent protein breakdown. Sepsis increased ubiquitin mRNA levels in the diaphragm (a mixed fiber-type muscle) but not in heart, liver, kidney or intestine, consistent with a tissue specific regulation of the ubiquitin system during sepsis. The results suggest that the difference in protein breakdown during sepsis between fast- and slow-twitch muscles reflects differential activation of the energy-ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway. The data also suggest that the expression of the ubiquitin pathway is upregulated in a time-dependent fashion during sepsis and that this response is not a generalized phenomenon but is tissue specific. 

Received 18 July 1996; accepted in final form 2 October 1996.
APS Manuscript Number R416-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Regulatory Integrative
Comp. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 5 November 1996