Submission Date

7-19-2019

Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Department

Health & Exercise Physiology

Second Department

Biology

Faculty Mentor

April Carpenter

Comments

Presented during the 21st Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 19, 2019 at Ursinus College.

Project Description

Thermotherapy is a conventional treatment used for muscle injuries. Applying heat increases endothelial permeability allowing various factors to enter the injury site. One of these factors is a protein induced by heat stress known as heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). HSPs are chaperone proteins that assist in the folding and unfolding of proteins, cell-cycle signaling, and protection of cells against stress and apoptosis. Overexpression of HSP has been found to reduce cell damage and improve cell survivability. HSP70 prevents protein aggregation and aids in the folding of denatured proteins. Previous research in our lab has found that thermotherapy enhances permeability in both male and female mice, with females having significantly increased permeability following thermotherapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate sex differences in the expression of HSP70 between male and female mice after injury. Barium chloride (BaCl2) was injected into the right tibialis anterior (TA) muscle to induce chemical injury and sodium chloride (NaCl) into the left TA for control. Thermotherapy was performed immediately after injury for 20 minutes, every 4 hours, for two consecutive 12-hour cycles. Using the extracted muscle tissue to isolate protein, we used techniques including western blot analysis to identify HSP70 expression differences between male and female mice following thermotherapy.

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