Mechanism of using massage to promote the fiber formation in skeletal muscle damage

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the mechanism of using massage to promote muscle fiber regeneration by studying on the effect of massage on myogenic regulatory factor of rabbit quadriceps injury Myf5 mRNA and MyoD mRNA. Methods：The 42 healthy adult New Zealand white rabbits，weighting（2.0±0.5） kg，were randomly divided into four groups：normal group（A，n=3），control group before massage（B group，n=3），massage group（C group，n=18） and natural recovery group（D group，n=18）. No treatment was used in A group while hitting by a homemade device was used in B，C and D groups to build rabbits’ quadriceps injury model in right and hind limb. In group C，massage was provided in the first four days after modeling，with speed of 2 600 r/min and frequency of 1/d，for 15 min. In group D，no massage was given. Quadriceps specimens of nine rabbits in C group and D group were got respectively on the 5th d and 10th d after modeling and pathological changes were observed by HE staining. The relative expression of Myf5 mRNA and MyoD mRNA was detected by real-time quantitative PCR. Results：The myogenic regulatory factor Myf5 mRNA expression was （7.82 ±0.19） and （4.99±0.17） in A and B groups，（5.28±0.15） and （5.78 ± 0.04） in C and D groups on the 5th d after modeling，（5.95 ± 0.16） and （6.26±0.26） in C and D groups on the 10th d after modeling，with statistical differences（P<0.01）. MyoD mRNA expression was （14.94±0.12） and （12.12±0.03） in A and B groups，（12.52±0.12） and （12.88±0.14） in C and D groups on the 5th d after modeling，（13.28 ± 0.02） and （13.81±0.17） in C and D groups on the 10th d after modeling，with statistical differences（P<0.01）. HE staining showed that the damage was mitigated and the muscle fibers were more orderly with larger diameter in C groups than in D groups. Conclusion：Massage can promote the synthesis of collagen fibers of injured quadriceps muscles in rabbits，which will help re－pair damaged tissues；its mechanism may be through the pro－motion of myogenic regulatory factor Myf5 mRNA and MyoD mRNA expression.