The Positive Impact of Vitamin D on Glucocorticoid-Dependent Skeletal Muscle Atrophy.

(1) The study aimed to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation would positively affect rats with glucocorticoids-induced muscle atrophy as measured by skeletal muscle mass in two experimental conditions: chronic dexamethasone (DEX) administration and a model of the chronic stress response. (2) The study lasted 28 consecutive days and was performed on 45 male Wistar rats randomly divided into six groups. These included two groups treated by abdominal injection of DEX at a dose of 2 mg/kg/day supplemented with vegetable oil (DEX PL; = 7) or with vitamin D 600 IU/kg/day (DEX SUP; = 8), respectively, and a control group treated with an abdominal injection of saline (CON; = 6).

The Electrical Stimulation of the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Causes Oxidative Stress in Skeletal Muscle of Rats.

Recent studies indicate that activation of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) plays the crucial role in stress response, while several lines of evidence mark the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) as a major mediator of the HPA axis responses to stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the corticosterone flux induced by the electrical stimulation of BST on markers of free radical damage of lipids and proteins and antioxidant enzyme activity in skeletal muscle of rats. The male Wistar rats were used and assigned to one of three groups: sham-operated (SHM; = 6), two-week (ST2; = 6), and four-week stimulated (ST4; = 5) groups.