Exercise tolerance is limited in patients with heart failure (HF), and the limited exercise tolerance is an independent determinant of poor prognosis. It is known that skeletal muscle abnormalities are important factors for limited exercise tolerance. The cause of skeletal muscle abnormalities in HF is unclear.
Recently, skeletal muscle is considered as an endocrine organ that secretes hormones, and the research is progressing. Various hormones secreted from skeletal muscle are called myokine, and it has been reported that they regulate not only skeletal muscle function but also distant organ function. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is abundant in the hippocampus and is known to be involved in the survival, growth, and synaptic function of nerve cells, and its decline is associated with pathological condition such as depression. We found that BDNF was a myokine secreted by skeletal muscle. We also found that blood BDNF was decreased in patients with HF, that BDNF is closely related to exercise tolerance, and that low BDNF is a predictor of the prognosis of HF. In addition, BDNF expression was decreased in the skeletal muscle of HF model mice. Treatment with human recombinant BDNF improved skeletal muscle abnormalities and exercise capacity in HF mice. On the other hand, BDNF hetero-deficient mice had the decreased skeletal muscle BDNF levels, skeletal muscle abnormalities, and decreased exercise capacity.
In this symposium, we will introduce the significance of BDNF, which is a type of myokine, for skeletal muscle abnormalities in HF.