Time-series transcriptomics in rat skeletal muscle after resistance exercise

We performed transcutaneous electrode stimulation to the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of rats to mimic resistance exercise and RNA sequencing to elucidate the temporal changes in mRNA expression following exercise. Wistar male rats (11-week-old) reared at room temperature (21-25°C) on a 12:12 h light-dark cycle with ad libitum access to food and water. Under isoflurane anaesthesia, isometric contractions of the TA muscle of the rat right leg were induced by skin electrode stimulation using a surface electrode. Total RNA was extracted from rat TA muscle at before and 0, 1, 3, 6 and 12 h after exercise using the NucleoSpin RNA (Takara Bio). Poly-A selection was used to purify mRNA from total RNA, and mRNA samples were quality-checked using Bioanalayzer. Standard Illumina protocols were used to generate 150-base pair, paired-end sequencing reads on the NovaSeq6000 (Illumina).