A New Transgenic Mouse Model of Heart Failure and Cardiac Cachexia Raised by Sustained Activation of Met Tyrosine Kinase in the Heart

Figure 3

At P27, heart failure in Tpr-Met mice is associated with skeletal muscle wasting. Cachectic Tpr-Met mice had significantly reduced skeletal muscle (a) mass and (b) weight with respect to controls (tibialis anterior: TA, soleus: SOL, and gastrocnemius: GSN). A shift towards smaller fibers was recognized in all three muscles ((c)–(e), left graphs). Accordingly, the mean Cross-Sectional Area (CSA) of TA (c), SOL (d), and GSN (e) muscle fibers of Tpr-Met mice was reduced with respect to controls (middle graphs). The maximum value of CSA was also significantly reduced in TA (c) and GSN (e) muscles (right graphs). Consistently, muscles from Tpr-Met mice showed reduced areas and mass. ; ; .

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