Lifelong dietary protein restriction accelerates skeletal muscle loss and reduces muscle fibre size by impairing proteostasis and mitochondrial homeostasis

To reveal the possible underlying mechanisms of protein restriction during lactation, we compared the transcriptomic profiles of GAS muscles from 21-day-old offsrping from mothers on a low protein diet during lactation and control group using RNAseq analysis. Overall design: Two weeks prior to mating, nulliparous female mice were fed either a low-protein diet (L, 8% crude protein) or a normal-protein diet (N, 20% crude protein), both fed ad libitum. Age-matched male mice on a normal-protein diet were used for mating. When the female mice were pregnant, they were kept on the same diet. The male offspring from mothers on normal-protein diet during gestation were used this study. Within 24 hours of birth, the new-born male litters were cross-fostered to mothers fed either a normal-protein diet or a low-protein diet, in order to create Normal-Normal (NN) or Normal-Low (N-L) groups of mice, respectively