Myosin heavy chain expression and muscle adaptation to chronic oral breathing in rat

The purpose of this study was to establish if early chronic oral breathing could induce an ultra-structural adaptation of the diaphragm and orofacial muscles related to oral or nasal breathing. Therefore, we performed a bilateral nasal obstruction at day 8 on rat pups and the myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition of the muscles was analyzed at day 21. Nasal obstruction and the related switch to chronic oral breathing were associated with impaired growth, atrophy of olfactory bulbs, hypertrophy of adrenal glands and reduced muscle growth for all muscles studied except the diaphragm. Furthermore, we detected a smaller decrease of MHC 2b compared to MHC 2a and 2x in levator nasolabialis, a muscle involved with nasal breathing. In masseter superficialis and anterior digastric involved with oral breathing, we observed a smaller decrease of MHC 2a compared to MHC 2b or 2x, respectively. No difference was detected in the diaphragm MHC expression of oral breathing animals. Since the relative expression of fatigue resistant MHC fiber types increased in muscles involved with oral breathing, orofacial muscles seem to present a profile in MHC adapted to the transition from nasal to oral breathing, facilitating respiration.