Exercise preserves muscle mass and force in a prostate cancer mouse model

• Main Authors: Darpan I. Patel, Kira Abuchowski, Bilal Sheikh, Paul Rivas, Nicolas Musi, A. Pratap Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2019-11-01
• Series: European Journal of Translational Myology
• Subjects: cachexia; sarcopenia; muscle strength; physical activity
• Online Access: https://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/bam/article/view/8520

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise in modulating biomarkers of sarcopenia in a treatment naïve transgenic adenocardinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) model. Thirty TRAMP mice were randomized to either exercise (voluntary wheel running) or no-treatment control group for a period of 20 weeks. During necropsy, gastrocnemius muscles and prostate tumors were harvested and weighed. Gastrocnemius concentrations of myostatin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were quantified. Exercise mice had greater muscle mass than controls (p=0.04). Myostatin was significantly lower in the exercise group compared to controls (p=0.01). Exercise mice maintained forelimb grip force while control mice had a significaint decrease (p=0.01). No significant difference was observed in pre-post all limb grip strength. Further, forelimb and all limb grip strength was negatively associated with tumor mass (p<0.01).