Expression of specific white adipose tissue genes in denervation-induced skeletal muscle fatty degeneration.

Denervation of skeletal muscle results in rapid atrophy with loss of contractile mass and/or progressive degeneration of muscle fibers which are replaced to a greater or lesser degree by connective and fatty tissues. In this study, we show that denervated rabbit muscles are transformed into a white adipose tissue, depending on their fiber types. This tissue does express LPL, G3PDH and particularly the ob gene, a white adipose tissue-specific marker, and does not express the brown adipose tissue molecular marker UCP1 mRNA.