Bigbelly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis)-derived peptides enhance skeletal muscle differentiation and endurance performance via activated P38MAPK/AKT signalling pathway: An in vitro and in vivo analysis

• Main Authors: Karthika Muthuramalingam, Seo-Young Kim, Youngmee Kim, Hyun-Soo Kim, You-Jin Jeon, Moonjae Cho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-01-01
• Series: Journal of Functional Foods
• Subjects: Zebrafish; Seahorse; Muscle hypertrophy; Myogenesis; Endurance capacity
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464618305383

Big belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) is a well-known marine organism recognized for its pharmacological value. In this study, peptides derived from natively (Jeju-do, Republic of Korea) farmed seahorses were investigated for their potency on myoblast differentiation and endurance capacitance. Cell viability studies on C2C12 mouse myoblast cells showed that more than 80% of the cells treated with peptides were metabolically active. Morphological observation illustrated the loss of characteristic radial branching towards elongated and well-developed muscle fibers in the peptide-treated C2C12 cells. Immunoblot study on the in vitro translational expression level of key myogenic regulatory proteins (MyoD, MyoG, MyHC) and an in vivo endurance study (using zebrafish as a working model) demonstrated the significance of peptides on the myogenesis process and endurance swimming performance against water flow and gradient, respectively. Collectively, our findings suggest that seahorse-derived peptides can be used as a therapeutic nutrient supplement for improved endurance.