Techniques - Bottinelli

To achieve the goal of our research we combine the analysis of muscle function and structure with the analysis of the adaptations of muscle proteome and of the  intracellular signaling pathways which control muscle phenotype, e.g. muscle mass and metabolism.

Functional analysis. Such analyses are performed at all levels of organization: whole body (exercise performance, muscle strength and metabolism); isolated muscles in vitro (force and fatigue); individual muscle fibres (force and velocity); isolated myosin in reconstituted contractile systems in vitro such as the in vitro motility assays (velocity).

Structural analysis: (i) muscle fibers size and type by immuno-histochemistry; (ii) concentration of myosin and myofibrillar proteins by quantitative electrophoresis; (iii) expression of their isoforms by high resolutions SDS-PAGE and Western blot.

Global Proteomic analysis by 2D electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry.

Analysis of intracellular signaling pathways by gene expression (quantitative real time PCR) and by western blot analyses.