Experimental Models for Cold Exposure of Muscle in vitro and in vivo

Tiril Schjølberg; Lucia Asoawe; Solveig Krapf; Arild C Rustan; Hege G Thoresen; Fred Haugen

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.4461

Experimental Models for Cold Exposure of Muscle in vitro and in vivo

Bio Protoc. 2022 Jul 5;12(13):e4461. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.4461.

Authors

Tiril Schjølberg¹, Lucia Asoawe¹, Solveig Krapf², Arild C Rustan², Hege G Thoresen^{2

3}, Fred Haugen¹

Affiliations

¹ National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway.
² Section for Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Work in cold environments may have a significant impact on occupational health. In these and similar situations, cold exposure localized to the extremities may reduce the temperature of underlying tissues. To investigate the molecular effects of cold exposure in muscle, and since adequate methods were missing, we established two experimental cold exposure models: 1) In vitroexposure to cold (18°C) or control temperature (37°C) of cultured human skeletal muscle cells (myotubes); and 2) unilateral cold exposure of hind limb skeletal muscle in anesthetized rats (intramuscular temperature 18°C), with contralateral control (37°C). This methodology enables studies of muscle responses to local cold exposures at the level of gene expression, but also other molecular outcomes. Graphical abstract.

Keywords: Cold exposure; In vitro; Myotubes; Protein expression; Skeletal muscle; mRNA.