Cuban Policosanol Prevents the Apoptosis and the Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by Lipopolysaccharide in C2C12 Myoblast via Activation of Akt and Erk Pathways.

Skeletal muscle plays crucial roles in locomotion, protein reservoir, and maintenance of metabolic homeostasis. Loss of muscle, known as muscle atrophy, causes the metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and so on. Therefore, great efforts have been devoted to prevent the muscle atrophy. Policosanols are a mixture of long chain fatty alcohols extracted from various natural sources. They have long been used as functional foods to lower the level of serum lipids, including triacylglycerol and cholesterol, and to protect against inflammatory stress. In this study, we examine the protective effect and molecular mechanism of Cuban policosanol on skeletal muscle cell death and mitochondrial dysfunction using lipopolysaccharide-treated C2C12 cells. Our results demonstrated that policosanol significantly rescued cell survival (40% vs. 88%; LPS vs. LPS+policosanol) via activation of the Akt pathway, resulting in inhibition of apoptosis (p<0.05). Moreover, policosanol restored the LPS-induced repression of collagen by two fold (0.33±0.04 vs. 0.67±0.03 compared to that of control; LPS vs. LPS+policosanol) via activation of ERK-mTOR-p70S6K pathways. In addition, policosanol increased the mitochondrial fusion by regulating the activities of DRP1 and Mfn2, leading to ameliorate the mitochondrial dysfunction induced by LPS. Improved mitochondria function increased the oxygen consumption rate with glucose as fuel source, indicating that policosanol could shift the glucose metabolism from lactate fermentation, induced by lipopolysaccharide, to oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, policosanol is a promising agent for preventing the inflammation-induced muscle cell death and mitochondrial dysfunction.