Daidzein alleviates cisplatin‐induced muscle atrophy by regulating Glut4/AMPK/FoxO pathway

Cisplatin (DDP) is widely used in cancer treatment, but DDP can cause skeletal muscle atrophy and cachexia. This study explored the effect and mechanism of daidzein (DAI) in reducing DDP‐induced skeletal muscle atrophy and cachexia in vivo and in vitro. DAI alleviated the weight, food intake, muscle, adipose tissue, kidney weight and forelimb grip of LLC tumour‐bearing mice after DDP treatment, and did not affect the antitumour effect of DDP. DAI can reduce the decrease of the cross‐sectional area of skeletal muscle fibre‐induced by DDP and prevent the change of fibre type proportion. In skeletal muscle, it can inhibit Glut4/AMPK/FoxO pathway, down‐regulate the expression of atrogin1 and MuRF1, and inhibit skeletal muscle protein degradation. In DDP treated C2C12 myotubes, DAI could inhibit Glut4/AMPK/FoxO pathway to reduce myotubes atrophy, while AMPK agonist MK‐3903 could reverse the protective effect of DAI. These results suggest that DAI can alleviate DDP‐induced skeletal muscle atrophy by downregulating the expression of Atrogin1 and MuRF1 through the regulation of Glut4/AMPK/FoxO pathway.