The effects of celecoxib on skeletal muscle in rodents
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Celecoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that inhibits the cyclooxygenase (COX) 2 enzyme, preventing the synthesis of prostaglandins and thereby playing a role in skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise. Previous studies have found that COX-2 selective NSAIDs impair muscle protein synthesis, which could influence muscle fiber size and composition, myosin heavy chain isoforms, cell signaling, inflammation markers, and subsequently affect body composition. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if celecoxib influenced the effects of exercise on skeletal muscle in young rats. METHODS: 9-week-old male Wistar rats (n=26) were randomized to celecoxib (CEL) or placebo (PLA), with (EX) or without (CON) exercise. Exercise consisted of treadmill running for six weeks (5x/week, 30mins/day, 5% incline, 15 meters/min). Body composition was measured at baseline and after six weeks using nuclear magnetic resonance, and the results are reported as a percentage change from baseline. The quadriceps and soleus were harvested after the final exercise bout in week six and used to determine fiber type composition and cross-sectional area, satellite cell activation, myosin abundance, cell signaling of AMPK 𝛼𝜈𝛿 Akt, and inflammation markers. Data was analyzed via 2 way ANOVA with Fisher LSD post hoc analysis and is represented as Mean±SD. RESULTS: The rat’s fluid and total mass had no significant percentage changes pre- and post-six weeks of training. However, there was a significant difference in the percent change between the celecoxib control and the celecoxib exercise for both fat and lean mass. Found that there was a significant difference between the placebo control (0.001797 ± 0.001840) and placebo exercise (0.007388 ± 0.007660, p = 0.047), and there was a significant difference between placebo exercise and celecoxib exercise (0.0002340 ± 0.0004679, p = 0.025). There was no significant difference between treatment and control groups for Myosin Slow and Myosin Total. However, a significant difference was observed between CEL/EX and PLA/CON for Myosin Fast (p < 0.05). Additionally, for the inflammation markers, we found that only Nbn expression increased with exercise in the placebo group. In contrast, celecoxib exercise blunted the expression of Nbn when compared to placebo exercise. At the same time, we observed no significant differences among groups for AMPK 𝛼nd AKT signaling markers, fiber type, fCSA, and performance tests. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our experiment demonstrated that combining celecoxib with moderate treadmill exercise influences skeletal muscle regeneration by reducing the activation of satellite cells in the soleus muscle. In contrast, there was an increase in myosin fast abundance, indicating the shift that can be seen with aerobic exercise, and this shift may be detrimental. We observed how the effects of exercise on the body composition of growing rats followed patterns similar to those seen in other studies on the impact of exercise. We could not say that celecoxib affected the rats' body composition or physical performance over the six-week period. At the same time, the combination of celecoxib and exercise had no additional impact on the AMPK and Akt pathways or fiber composition.
Description
2025
License
Attribution 4.0 International