Induction of Skeletal Muscle Injury by Intramuscular Injection of Cardiotoxin in Mouse

Xin Fu; Sheng Li; Minzhi Jia; Wenjun Yang; Ping Hu

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.4668

Induction of Skeletal Muscle Injury by Intramuscular Injection of Cardiotoxin in Mouse

Bio Protoc. 2023 May 5;13(9):e4668. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.4668.

Authors

Xin Fu¹, Sheng Li¹, Minzhi Jia², Wenjun Yang¹, Ping Hu^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Spine Center, Xinhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
³ Guangzhou Laboratory, No. 9 XingDaoHuan Road, Guangzhou International Bio lsland, Guangzhou 510005, China.
⁴ Institute for Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

Abstract

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body and has a tremendous capability to regenerate in response to muscle injuries and diseases. Induction of acute muscle injury is a common method to study muscle regeneration in vivo. Cardiotoxin (CTX) belongs to the family of snake venom toxins and is one of the most common reagents to induce muscle injury. Intramuscular injection of CTX causes overwhelming muscle contraction and lysis of myofibers. The induced acute muscle injury triggers muscle regeneration, allowing in-depth studies on muscle regeneration. This protocol describes a detailed procedure of intramuscular injection of CTX to induce acute muscle injury that could be also applied in other mammalian models.

Keywords: Cardiotoxin; Intramuscular injection; Skeletal muscle injury.