The Relationship between Muscle Fiber Type-Specific PGC-1α Content and Mitochondrial Content Varies between Rodent Models and Humans

PGC-1 alpha regulates critical processes in muscle physiology, including mitochondrial biogenesis, lipid metabolism and angiogenesis. Furthermore, PGC-1 alpha was suggested as an important regulator of fiber type determination. However, whether a muscle fiber type-specific PGC-1 alpha content exists, whether PGC-1 alpha content relates to basal levels of mitochondrial content, and whether such relationships are preserved between humans and classically used rodent models are all questions that have been either poorly addressed or never investigated. To address these issues, we investigated the fiber type-specific content of PGC-1 alpha and its relationship to basal mitochondrial content in mouse, rat and human muscles using in situ immunolabeling and histochemical methods on muscle serial cross-sections. Whereas type IIa fibers exhibited the highest PGC-1 alpha in all three species, other fiber types displayed a hierarchy of type IIx>I>IIb in mouse, type I = IIx>IIb in rat, and type IIx>I in human. In terms of mitochondrial content, we observed a hierarchy of IIa>IIx>I>IIb in mouse, IIa>I>IIx>IIb in rat, and I>IIa>IIx in human skeletal muscle. We also found in rat skeletal muscle that type I fibers displayed the highest capillarization followed by type IIa>IIx>IIb. Finally, we found in human skeletal muscle that type I fibers display the highest lipid content, followed by type IIa>IIx. Altogether, our results reveal that (i) the fiber type-specific PGC-1 alpha and mitochondrial contents were only matched in mouse, (ii) the patterns of PGC-1 alpha and mitochondrial contents observed in mice and rats do not correspond to that seen in humans in several respects, and (iii) the classical phenotypes thought to be regulated by PGC-1 alpha do not vary exclusively as a function of PGC-1 alpha content in rat and human muscles.