Skeletal muscle is a major organ in animals, which constitutes over 40% of livestock body weight, and plays a critical role in metabolism and homeostasis in an organism. Autophagy and apoptosis are two major processes to determine cell fate. Recently, the importance of autophagy and apoptosis in myogenesis has been identified; however, their crosstalk is not well defined. In this study, we aimed to explore the relationship between apoptosis and autophagy during myogenic differentiation. The results showed that the level of autophagy was consistent with apoptosis during myogenic differentiation. The increased apoptosis activated autophagy, and then autophagy inhibited apoptosis in turn to prevent excessive apoptosis and maintain the stability of cells. The interaction between autophagy and apoptosis determines the balance of cell death and cell survival, allowing the skeletal muscle cells to differentiate normally.
Keywords: apoptosis; autophagy; cell survival; myogenic differentiation.