Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) is a major determinant in the enhanced function of muscle-derived progenitors from MRL/MpJ mice

Although the mouse strain Murphy Roths Large (MRL/MpJ) possesses high regenerative potential, the mechanism of tissue regeneration, including skeletal muscle, in MRL/MpJ mice after injury is still unclear. Our previous studies have shown that muscle-derived stem/progenitor cell (MDSPC) function is significantly enhanced in MRL/MpJ mice when compared with MDSPCs isolated from age-matched wild-type (WT) mice. Using mass spectrometry–based proteomic analysis, we identified increased expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) 1α target genes (expression of glycolytic factors and antioxidants) in sera from MRL/MpJ mice compared with WT mice. Therefore, we hypothesized that HIF-1α promotes the high muscle healing capacity of MRL/MpJ mice by increasing the potency of MDSPCs. We demonstrated that treating MRL/MpJ MDSPCs with dimethyloxalylglycine and CoCl₂ increased the expression of HIF-1α and target genes, including angiogenic and cell survival genes. We also observed that HIF-1α activated the expression of paired box (Pax)7 through direct interaction with the Pax7 promoter. Furthermore, we also observed a higher myogenic potential of MDSPCs derived from prolyl hydroxylase (Phd) 3—knockout (Phd3^−/−) mice, which displayed higher stability of HIF-1α. Taken together, our findings suggest that HIF-1α is a major determinant in the increased MDSPC function of MRL/MpJ mice through enhancement of cell survival, proliferation, and myogenic differentiation.—Sinha, K. M., Tseng, C., Guo, P., Lu, A., Pan, H., Gao, X., Andrews, R., Eltzschig, H., Huard, J. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) is a major determinant in the enhanced function of muscle-derived progenitors from MRL/MpJ mice. FASEB J. 33, 8321–8334 (2019). www.fasebj.org.