The wasting-associated metabolite succinate disrupts myogenesis and impairs skeletal muscle regeneration
Authors: Arneson Paige C , Hogan Kelly A , Shin Alexandra M , Samani Adrienne , Jatoi Aminah , Doles Jason D 
Published: October 2019

Background

Muscle wasting is a debilitating co-morbidity affecting most advanced cancer patients. Alongside enhanced muscle catabolism, defects in muscle repair/regeneration contribute to cancer-associated wasting. Among the factors implicated in suppression of muscle regeneration are cytokines that interfere with myogenic signal transduction pathways. Less understood is how other cancer/wasting-associated cues, such as metabolites, contribute to muscle dysfunction. This study investigates how the metabolite succinate affects myogenesis and muscle regeneration.

Methods

We leveraged an established ectopic metabolite treatment (cell permeable dimethyl-succinate) strategy to evaluate the ability of intracellular succinate elevation to 1) affect myoblast homeostasis (proliferation, apoptosis), 2) disrupt protein dynamics and induce wasting-associated atrophy, and 3) modulatein vitromyogenesis.In vivosuccinate supplementation experiments (2% succinate, 1% sucrose vehicle) were used to corroborate and extendin vitroobservations. Metabolic profiling and functional metabolic studies were then performed to investigate the impact of succinate elevation on mitochondria function.

Results

We found thatin vitrosuccinate supplementation elevated intracellular succinate about 2-fold, and did not have an impact on proliferation or apoptosis of C2C12 myoblasts. Elevated succinate had minor effects on protein homeostasis (∼25% decrease in protein synthesis assessed by OPP staining), and no significant effect on myotube atrophy. Succinate elevation interfered within vitromyoblast differentiation, characterized by significant decreases in late markers of myogenesis and fewer nuclei per myosin heavy chain positive structure (assessed by immunofluorescence staining). While mice orally administered succinate did not exhibit changes in overall body composition or whole muscle weights, these mice displayed smaller muscle myofiber diameters (∼6% decrease in the mean of non-linear regression curves fit to the histograms of minimum feret diameter distribution), which was exacerbated when muscle regeneration was induced with barium chloride injury. Significant decreases in the mean of non-linear regression curves fit to the histograms of minimum feret diameter distributions were observed 7 days and 28 days post injury. Elevated numbers of myogenin positive cells (3-fold increase) supportive of the differentiation defects observedin vitrowere observed 28 days post injury. Metabolic profiling and functional metabolic assessment of myoblasts revealed that succinate elevation caused both widespread metabolic changes and significantly lowered maximal cellular respiration (∼35% decrease).

Conclusions

This study broadens the repertoire of wasting-associated factors that can directly modulate muscle progenitor cell function and strengthens the hypothesis that metabolic derangements are significant contributors to impaired muscle regeneration, an important aspect of cancer-associated muscle wasting.