Oat β‐glucan alleviates muscle atrophy via promoting myotube formation and suppressing protein degradation

Abstract BACKGROUND The dangerous inducers of muscle atrophy are inflammatory reaction, oxidative stress, and cachexia, etc. β‐Glucan, an important food derived active ingredient, has been reported to exert anti‐inflammatory effects, however, its effects on regulating myoblast differentiation and protein degradation are unclear. This study is aimed to investigate the mechanism of oat β‐glucan on alleviating muscle atrophy. RESULTS The results showed that oat β‐glucan treatment reversed tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) induced abnormal myoblast differentiation and reduced muscle atrophy related MuRF‐1 and Atrogin‐1 protein expression. The similar phenomenon was observed after using MCC950 (NLRP3 specific inhibitor) or AS1842856 (FoxO1 specific inhibitor) to suppress NLRP3 and FoxO1 expression, respectively. Exposure to β‐glucan or AS1842856 also inhibited TNF‐α induced the activation of TLR4/NF‐κB pathway by inactivating FoxO1, and subsequently suppressed the expression of NLRP3. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that oat β‐glucan exerts essential roles in promoting myoblast differentiation and alleviating muscle atrophy via inactivating FoxO1 and NLRP3 inflammasome signal pathway. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.