Targeted ablation of IKK2 improves skeletal muscle strength, maintains mass, and promotes regeneration
J. Clin. Invest. Foteini Mourkioti, et al. 116:2945 doi:10.1172/JCI28721 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
IKK2 muscle depletion maintains skeletal muscle mass and strength after denervation-induced atrophy. (A and B) Four-month-old mice 28 days after denervation procedure. Left arrow points to denervated leg (skin removed from the hind limbs). (C–F) Representative pictures are shown from cross sections taken from gastrocnemius (28 days after denervation) of both legs and stained with H&E. Note the greater reduction of the muscle size of control compared with Ikk2^mko atrophied gastrocnemius. (G) Quantitation of muscle mass in Ikk2^mko muscles (solid line) compared with those of control littermates (dashed line), at 7, 14, and 28 days after denervation. Note greater protection in Ikk2^mko soleus. All values represent the weight of denervated muscle after normalization compared with the weight of sham-operated muscle (n = 5 mice per time point) expressed as percentage. (H) Maximum EDL tetanic specific force of denervated control (n = 4) and denervated Ikk2^mko (n = 4) muscle. *Mean value differs significantly from that of control (P < 0.05).