Hochuekkito accelerates recovery from cisplatin induced-muscle atrophy accompanied by slow-twitch fiber-specific microRNA upregulation in mice

Hochuekkito (HET) increased locomotor activity and muscle weight in cisplatin induced muscle atrophy model mice, probably by enhancing myogenesis in slow-twitch fibers, which was related to miRNA expression changes. Thus, HET may be useful in treating cisplatin-induced muscle atrophy. Overall design: Eight-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were administered with cisplatin (3 mg/kg/day, intraperitoneally) from Day0 to Day3 and provided with hochuekkito (HET) -containing food from 2 weeks before cisplatin administration until Day14. The red regions of gastrocnemius muscle were harvested on Day 14 for microRNA sequence analysis. The analysis was conducted using three groups: Vehicle group (saline + control diet); n = 10, cisplatin group (cisplatin + control diet); n = 15, and 3% HET group (cisplatin + 3% HET-containing diet); n = 15.