Methods and Models to Study Skeletal Muscle Biology

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Gilles Gouspillou

Département des Sciences de l’activité physique, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Québec, Canada.

Dr. Gilles Gouspillou received a PhD in Cell Biology in 2010 from Bordeaux 2 University. He joined McGill University from 2011 to 2013 as a postdoctoral fellow to further his training. In 2013, Dr Gouspillou was recruited as an assistant professor at UQAM and was promoted to the rank of associate professor in 2016. In his research, Dr. Gouspillou investigates cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle mass, health, plasticity, and aging, with a particular focus on the roles that mitochondrial quality control processes and autophagy play in skeletal muscle biology.

Jean-Philippe Leduc-Gaudet

University of Padova

Dr. Jean-Philippe Leduc-Gaudet completed his bachelor in Kinesiology and his master’s degree with a particular focus on mitochondrial biology, skeletal pathophysiology and aging at Université du Québec à Montréal. Following his MSc, he completed his PhD studying the regulatory roles of autophagy & mitophagy in the maintenance of skeletal muscle health under the supervision of Dr. Hussain and Gouspillou (McGill University), where he received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. In his research, Dr. Leduc-Gaudet combines genetic, molecular, cellular, and physiological approaches to investigate signalling pathways regulating skeletal muscle mass and function. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Sandri’s lab (U Padova, Italy), working on characterizing novel genes and molecular pathways that control skeletal muscle health. He is currently supported by a FRQS postdoctoral fellowship.

Collection Overview

Skeletal muscles represent the largest type of tissue in mammals and assumes a myriad of functions that are critical for general health. Indeed, skeletal muscles are essential for mobility, posture, respiration, thermogenesis, whole body glucose homeostasis and play a vital role in providing amino acids during critical catabolic conditions. It is therefore not surprising that a loss of skeletal muscle mass has been associated with impaired glycemic control, fractures, falls and disability. Muscle weakness and atrophy also develop during a wide range of pathophysiological conditions, including sepsis, cancer, disuse, denervation, and aging. In contrast, muscle mass, function, metabolism, and overall health can be improved by nutritional or exercise interventions. To investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling skeletal muscle health, muscle biologists have developed over the years various models and approaches that either impair (hindlimb immobilization, denervation, starvation, sepsis, cancer cachexia, etc) or improve (endurance or resistance training, functional overload, vector-based alteration of gene expression, etc) muscle mass and function. Researchers have also developed a multitude of reliable in vivo or in vitro methods to assess muscle contractility, metabolism, phenotype, and regenerative potential. The goal of this Methods Collection is to provide researchers with a video-based opportunity to discover and implement reliable models, protocols, methods, and assays to study skeletal muscle biology.