Interaction of the C2C12 myotube contractions and glucose availability on transcriptome and extracellular vesicle microRNAs

Exercise-like electrical pulse stimulation (EL-EPS) of myotubes mimics many key physiological changes induced by in vivo exercise. Besides enabling intracellular research, EL-EPS allows to study secreted factors, including muscle-specific microRNAs (myomiRs) carried in extracellular vesicles (EVs). These factors can participate in contraction-induced intercellular cross talk and may mediate the health benefits of exercise. However, the current knowledge of these responses, especially under variable nutritional conditions, is limited. We investigated the effects of EL-EPS on C2C12 myotube transcriptome in high- and low-glucose conditions by messenger RNA sequencing, while the expression of EV-carried miRNAs was analyzed by small RNA sequencing and RT-qPCR. We show that higher glucose availability augmented contraction-induced transcriptional changes and that the majority of the differentially expressed genes were upregulated. Furthermore, based on the pathway analyses, processes related to contractility and cytokine/inflammatory responses were upregulated. In addition, we report that EL-EPS increased packing of miR-1-3p into EVs independent of glucose availability. Together our findings suggest that in vitro EL-EPS is a usable tool not only to study contraction-induced intracellular mechanisms but also extracellular responses. The distinct transcriptional changes observed under variable nutritional conditions emphasize the importance of careful consideration of media composition in future exercise-mimicking studies. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The present study examined for the first time the effects of exercise-like electrical pulse stimulation administered under distinct nutritional conditions on 1) the transcriptome of the C2C12 myotubes and 2) their media containing extracellular vesicle-carried microRNAs. We report that higher glucose availability augmented transcriptional responses related especially to contractility and cytokine/inflammatory pathways. Agreeing with in vivo studies, we show that the packing of exercise-responsive miR-1-3p was increased in the extracellular vesicles in response to myotube contractions.