ROLE OF INNERVATION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF TROPONIN SUBUNIT ISOFORM PATTERNS IN FAST-TWITCH AND SLOW-TWITCH MUSCLES OF THE RABBIT

This study investigates the neural influence on the establishment and maintenance of muscle type-specific expression patterns of the three troponin (Tn) subunits, troponin T (TnT), troponin C (TnC), and troponin I (TnI) during postnatal development and in the adult rabbit. For this purpose, we followed changes in the expression of fast and slow TnT, TnC, and TnI isoforms at the protein and mRNA level in slow- and fast-twitch muscles. During postnatal development all fast Tn isoforms increased in fast-twitch muscle. Sequential transitions (TnT(s)-->TnT(3f)-->TnT(1f)) occurred in the TnT isoform pattern. These changes occured in parallel with sequential transitions in the pattern of myosin heavy chain (HC) isoforms. Neonatal slow-twitch muscle displayed more mature (slow) isoform patterns for both TnT subunits and myosin HCs than fast-twitch muscle. Although the expression of slow TnC in slow-twitch muscle required innervation, denervation had little effect on slow TnT and TnI which seemed to be controlled by an intrinsic program. In fast-twitch muscle, denervation enhanced the expression of all slow Tn subunit isoforms. In addition, it led to a pronounced increase of the slow TnT(2s) isoform such that the amount of TnT(2s) exceeded that of TnT(1s). The effects of denervation together with previous data on low-frequency stimulated muscle indicate that the expression of fast Tn isoforms in fast-twitch muscle is neurally controlled. The pattern of slow Tn isoforms in slow-twitch muscle seems to be regulated by an intrinsic program and, in addition, by neural influences.