Figure 5: Endogenous YAP is upregulated to mitigate neurogenic muscle atrophy.

(a) Representative western blots of YAP and GAPDH levels in sham or denervated muscles treated with rAAV6:LacZ shRNA or rAAV6:YAP shRNA with quantification below (mean±s.e.m., n=6 except rAAV6:YAP shRNA denervated group where n=5, * indicates significant difference compared with sham rAAV6:LacZ muscle, # indicates significant difference compared with rAAV6:LacZ shRNA denervated muscle, P<0.05; two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni post hoc test. (b) Muscle mass and (c) myofibre CSA in sham or denervated muscles treated with rAAV6:LacZ shRNA or rAAV6:YAP shRNA (mean±s.e.m., n=6 except rAAV6:YAP shRNA denervated group where n=5, * indicates significant difference compared with rAAV6:LacZ shRNA sham muscle, # indicates significant difference compared with rAAV6:LacZ-shRNA-treated denervated muscle, $ indicates significant difference compared with rAAV6:YAP shRNA-treated sham muscle, P<0.05; two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test. (d,e) Representative images of muscles administered rAAV6:LacZ shRNA and rAAV6:YAP shRNA before denervation. Scale bar, 50 μm. n=6 except rAAV6:YAP shRNA denervated group where n=5. (f) Representative images of ANKRD1 and GAPDH levels in muscles receiving rAAV6:LacZ shRNA and rAAV6:YAP shRNA before denervation. n=3. (g) Puromycin and GFP levels with (h) quantification in rAAV6:LacZ shRNA and rAAV6:YAP shRNA-treated sham and denervated muscles (mean±s.e.m., n=3, * indicates significant difference compared with sham muscle, # indicates significant difference compared with rAAV6:LacZ shRNA denervated muscle, P<0.05; two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test. (i) Ankrd1, (j) Murf1 and (k) Musa1 mRNA expression in rAAV6:LacZ shRNA and rAAV6:YAP shRNA-treated sham and denervated muscles (mean±s.e.m., n=6 except rAAV6:YAP shRNA denervated group where n=5, * indicates significant difference compared to contralateral sham muscles, P<0.05 respectively; two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test.