Effects of DHRS3 in C2C12 Myoblast Differentiation and Mouse Skeletal Muscle Injury

Myoblast differentiation is an essential process during skeletal muscle development. C2 C12 myoblast is a commonly used experimental model to study muscle cell differentiation in vitro. Dehydrogenase/reductase（SDR family） member 3（DHRS3） is a highly conserved member in short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily and has been shown to be involved in the metabolism of retinol. Previous experimental results showed that the expression of DHRS3 increased significantly during the differentiation of myoblasts differentiation. However, the effect of DHRS3 on mouse muscle cell differentiation was unclear. The objective of current study was to determine if DHRS3 affected muscle cell differentiation, and if DHRS3 was involved in muscle regeneration. Protein expression was determined by western blot and immunofluorescence analysis. The activation and inhibition of DHRS3 increased and decreased C2 C12 myoblast differentiation respectively, which indicated that DHRS3 could affect C2 C12 myoblast differentiation. DHRS3 expression was significantly changed during muscle regeneration, with the regeneration of muscle injury, the expression of DHRS3 tended to increase first and then decrease. It suggested that DHRS3 might be involved in muscle regeneration. In summary, this study confirmed the involvement of DHRS3 in C2 C12 myoblast differentiation and mouse skeletal muscle regeneration and provided a theoretical basis for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of muscle development.