Effect of physical activity in an enriched environment on the skeletal muscle of mice with cachexia associated with cutaneous melanoma

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to verify the effects of physical activity in an enriched environment on histomorphometry of the quadriceps femoris muscle of C57BL / 6 mice with cachexia associated with the cutaneous melanoma tumor model. METHODS: Female mice of the C57BL / 6 strain were used and were randomly assigned to two groups: CRC control (n = 11), which did not perform any type of intervention, the second group was the experimental one (CRC-ATF) (n = 15 ), who performed organized physical activity in an enriched environment 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 45 cm high. Tumor induction of B16-F10 cells of the cutaneous melanoma lineage occurred in all animals in this study. After ten days of tumor induction, all animals already presented with cachexia, so the experimental group started physical activity in an enriched environment lasting 30 minutes with intervals of 48 hours. 26 days after the beginning of the intervention, the surviving animals were euthanized and the quadriceps femoris muscle was collected for histomorphometric analysis. RESULTS: Analyzing the intervention performed, we noticed that the CRC-ATF group had a larger muscle fiber area than the CRC group, but this result showed no significant difference (p?0.05) between the groups. CONCLUSION: The results show that it is possible to preserve the muscular structure, as the best results were found with animals that participated in physical activity in an enriched environment.