Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-10-2023

Keywords

JGM, Humans, Myostatin, Chalones, Muscle, Skeletal, Transforming Growth Factor beta

JAX Source

Annu Rev Physiol. 2023;85:269-91.

ISSN

1545-1585

PMID

36266260

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-012422-112116

Grant

Work in the author’s laboratory was supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01AR060636, R01AG052962, and R01AR081659. While at Johns Hopkins University, the au- thor was supported by generous gifts from Michael and Ann Hankin, partners at Brown Advisory, and James and Julieta Higgins.

Abstract

Myostatin (GDF-8) was discovered 25 years ago as a new transforming growth factor-β family member that acts as a master regulator of skeletal muscle mass. Myostatin is made by skeletal myofibers, circulates in the blood, and acts back on myofibers to limit growth. Myostatin appears to have all of the salient properties of a chalone, which is a term proposed over a half century ago to describe hypothetical circulating, tissue-specific growth inhibitors that control tissue size. The elucidation of the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms underlying myostatin activity suggests that myostatin functions as a negative feedback regulator of muscle mass and raises the question as to whether this type of chalone mechanism is unique to skeletal muscle or whether it also operates in other tissues.

Comments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information.

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