Fig. 6: Characterization of skeletal muscle-specific CLCF1 knockout (skm KO) mice.
From: Exercise-induced CLCF1 attenuates age-related muscle and bone decline in mice
A Scheme showing the generation of skeletal muscle-specific CLCF1 knockout mice and the experimental plan of exercise (created in BioRender.com). We used 12-week-old male skm KO mice. B Relative mRNA expression levels of CLCF1 in TA muscle in WTflx and skm KO mice (n = 3; p = 0.0231). C Weight of dissected SOL, TA, EDL, and GA muscles in WTflx and skm KO mice (n = 5; biological replicates, p = 0.0271, 0.039). D Grip strength test (n = 5; p = 0.0026). E Grid hanging test (n = 5; p = 0.9296). F Treadmill running performance test in mice: running curves, distance run, and time to exhaustion (n = 5). G Immunostaining for myofiber boundaries using laminin in TA muscles of WTflx and skm KO mice. Scale bar, 50 μm. H, I Quantification of muscle fiber size and distribution in TA muscles: H mean muscle fiber area (WT, n = 4; skm KO, n = 3; biological replicates, p = 0.006), I frequency distribution of fiber area (WT, n = 4; skm KO, n = 3; biological replicates, p = 0.027, 0.045, 0.031). J Representative µCT images of the trabecular and cortical compartments of distal femoral metaphyseal regions of WTflx and skm KO mice. Scale bar, 1 mm. K Measurement of trabecular bone volume/total volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (TbTh), trabecular separation (TbSp), trabecular number (TbN), cortical bone volume/total volume (Corti BV/TV), and cortical thickness (Corti Th) (n = 5). L TRAP, hematoxylin/eosin (H&E), and Runx2 staining of a histological section of proximal tibiae. Scale bar, 100 μm. M Osteoclast number per bone surface and osteoblast number per bone surface were assessed (n = 5). Data are presented as means ± s.e.m.; two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test (B–E, H–M); Log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test for running curve (F). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005 and ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
