Discussion
These findings provide new insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of 4-AP against nerve injury-induced muscle atrophy and dysfunction. Muscle Nerve 60: 192-201, 2019.
Methods
Mice were assigned to sciatic nerve crush injury and no-injury groups and were followed for 3, 7, and 14 days with/without 4-AP or saline treatment. Morphological, functional, and transcriptional properties of skeletal muscle were assessed.
Results
In addition to improving in vivo function, 4-AP significantly reduced muscle atrophy with increased muscle fiber diameter and contractile force. Reduced muscle atrophy was associated with attenuated expression of atrophy-related genes and increased expression of proliferating stem cells.