Dietary Genistein Prevents Denervation-Induced Muscle Atrophy in Male Rodents via Effects on Estrogen Receptor-α.. Rattus norvegicus

Genistein is one of the flabonoids which is included in high concentration in soy and has a high estrogenic activity. Beneficial effects of estrogen or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on muscle mass or muscle atrophy have been demonstrated. We investigated the preventive effects and underlying mechanisms of genistein intake on denervation-induced muscle atrophy. Genistein intake significantly suppressed the loss of soleus muscle weight and the denervation-induced up-regulations of FOXO1 protein. The results of a DNA microarray showed that the estrogen receptor (ER) target genes are changed by genistein intake. Genistein suppressed the soleus muscle atrophy, and it was attenuated under the ER antagonist treatment. The administration of an ERα agonist suppressed the denervation-induced muscle atrophy and up-regulation of Atrogin1 gene expression, but the ERβ agonist had no effect. Overall design: Ten-week-old male Wistar rats were given diets containing 0.05% genistein for 24 days. On day 14, the sciatic nerve in the left leg was severed while the rat's right hind lig was sham-treated. 10 days after denevation, soleus muscles were collected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Total RNA extracted extracted from the tissues of each rat from the respective groups (4 groups; Control diet_Sham, Control diet_Denervation, Genistein diet_Sham and Genistein diet_Denervation) were pooled (eight animals per group).