HIF Prolyl Hydroxylase Inhibition Protects Skeletal Muscle from Contraction-Induced Injury

Skeletal muscle has an impressive ability to repair itself after a damaging insult and this response is essential to the process of muscle adaptation. In conditions such as muscular dystrophy and the sarcopenia of old age, repair is compromised leading to fibrosis and fatty tissue accumulation. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are highly conserved regulators of gene transcription under conditions of low oxygen tension and HIF target genes such as EPO and VEGF have been associated with muscle protection and repair. We sought to interrogate the importance of HIF activation to skeletal muscle repair through the use of prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors (PHI) that stabilize HIF and activate target gene transcription in a mouse eccentric exercise limb damage model.

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