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First published online January 17, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 477-483 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02665

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Effect of maternal myostatin antibody on offspring growth performance and body composition in mice

Yu-Chuan Liang¹, Jan-Ying Yeh² and Bor-Rung Ou^1,3,*

¹ Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan, Republic of China,
² Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Asia University, Wufeng Shiang, Taichung 413, Taiwan, Republic of China
³ Life Science Research Center, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan, Republic of China

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: brou{at}thu.edu.tw)

Accepted 22 November 2006

Myostatin (GDF8) is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß) superfamily. The finding that animals with a knockout or mutation of the myostatin-encoding gene show increased muscle mass suggests that myostatin negatively regulates muscle growth. The study reported here was designed to investigate the effect of induction of maternal myostatin antibody on the growth performance and body composition of the mouse. Female mice were induced to produce myostatin antibody by immunization with synthetic myostatin peptide prior to mating with male mice. The body masses of offspring were measured weekly and the body compositions of offspring were determined at 8 weeks of age. The results showed that myostatin antibody was detected in both immunized female mice and their 8-week-old offspring. The growth performance of offspring from the myostatin antibody-induced (mstn Ab-induced) group was higher than that from the control group at 8 weeks of age. The body composition of both male and female offspring from the mstn Ab-induced group contained higher crude protein and lower crude fat than those from the control group (P<0.05). The litter number from the maternal mstn Ab-induced group was less than that from control mice, while embryo development was normal in both groups. However, the amount of developing follicle in ovaries of the mstn Ab-induced group was lower than that in the control group. It is concluded that induction of maternal mstn Ab enhances the growth performance of offspring and influences the offspring body composition by increasing the crude protein and reducing crude fat.

Key words: myostatin, maternal antibody, growth performance, body composition

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