Fig. 3

Quantitative PCR of contractile protein, components of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, growth factors and vitamin D-associated proteins of the low oxidative, distal part of the Gm. a Total RNA per milligram muscle. No differences in total RNA concentration were observed between the groups indicating that it was allowed to normalise the expression of the other factors for 18S RNA. b Expression of the structural protein α-actin and the ubiquitin proteasome pathway proteins MAFbx and MuRF-1. The expression of MuRF-1 in the vehicle group was higher compared to the control adult group. MuRF-1 expression was further increased in the alfacalcidol treated group. c Expression of the growth factors myostatin and IGF-1 Ea. Myostatin expression was lower in the alfacalcidol and vehicle group than the control adult group. d c-myc, vitamin D receptor (VDR) and CYP27B1 expression were not different between groups. CA control adult, A6WO (alfacalcidol for 6 weeks, old), old rats treated with alfacalcidol for 6 weeks, V6WO (vehicle for 6 weeks, old), old rats treated with vehicle for 6 weeks; *different from CA at P < 0.05; ^#different from CA and V6WO at P < 0.001 (ANOVA, Bonferroni posthoc); data are represented as mean ± SEM