Figure 4

MG132 diminished the recovery time of muscle following hindlimb immobilization. (A) The mice were immobilized using surgical staples (both hindlimbs) with or without the MG132 treatment. After 7 days, the staples were removed and the mice were remobilized. Running time experiments were performed using the treadmill. Histogram showing that the MG132-treated mice (n = 10) displayed a longer physical performance on day 4 post-remobilization compared to the DMSO-treated mice (n = 10). However, there was no significant difference on day 11 post-remobilization (n = 9-10 mice/condition). In addition, there was no significant difference, after a 7 day remobilization period, with the physical performance of age-matched control mice (gray column) that had never been immobilized, indicating that training did not improve the physical performance (n = 5). Data are presented as means ± SEM. (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.001 compared to control). (B) Histogram showing the body weights of the same MG132- and DMSO-treated mice after 4 (n = 8) and 11 (n = 8) days of remobilization. As can be seen, there was no difference in total mean body weight between the MG132- and DMSO-treated mice. (C) Photographs showing the ventral part of the foot in which the staple had been inserted. A slight insult was observed 1 day after the staple was removed (1 day of remobilization). After 4 days of remobilization, which corresponded to a time point in the treadmill performance experiment, the insult had completely disappeared.