Transcriptome analysis of tenotomy immobilized rat soleus muscle

Tenotomy is the release of muscle preload that causes abrupt shortening of the muscle and models atrophy and fibrosis without inflammatory response. Fibrosis in the skeletal muscle is known to be triggered by TGF-β, which is activated by mediators of inflammatory events. As these were lacking, tenotomy provided an opportunity to investigate transcriptional events on a background without inflammation. An unbiased look at the transcriptome of tenotomy-immobilized soleus muscle revealed that the majority of the transcriptional changes took place in the first four weeks. The transcriptome provided clear-cut evidence for the upregulation of collagens and several extracellular matrix components that defined fibrotic remodeling of the skeletal muscle architecture as well as activation of the fibro-adipogenic precursors. Time-course transcriptome analysis of tenotomy immobilized rat soleus samples from Control muscle (n=4) samples and tenotomy immobilized samples of 1 week (n=2) 2 weeks (n=2), 3 weeks (n=1), 4 weeks (n=1), 6 weeks (n=2), 16 weeks (n=1), 22 weeks (n=1) immobilization.