J Toxicol Sci. 2011 Apr;36(2):243-6. doi: 10.2131/jts.36.243.
Paraquat (PQ) is one of the most frequently used pesticides in worldwide. In most countries, PQ is used without restrictions. To investigate the effect of PQ on myogenesis, cultures of C2C12, a useful model to study differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes, were exposed to various concentrations of PQ. Myotube formation did not occur in the presence of 50 µM PQ. Although cell death was not observed at this concentration, growth inhibition was evident in the growth medium. Production of myosin heavy chain, a myogenesis marker protein, decreased dose dependently with the concentration of PQ, which was added to the C2C12 cell culture during differentiation. Inhibition of myogenesis by PQ was not reversed by the addition of ascorbic acid. These results show that PQ is a strong inhibitor of muscle differentiation in vitro.
百草枯（PQ）是世界范围内使用最广泛的农药之一。在大多数国家，百草枯的使用不受限制。为了研究百草枯对成肌作用的影响，我们将 C2C12 细胞进行培养，C2C12 是一种用于研究成肌细胞分化为肌管的有用模型，然后将其暴露于不同浓度的百草枯中。在 50µM 百草枯的存在下，不会形成肌管。尽管在该浓度下未观察到细胞死亡，但在生长培养基中明显出现了生长抑制。肌球蛋白重链的产生，一种成肌作用标志物蛋白，随着百草枯浓度的增加而呈剂量依赖性降低，该浓度在分化过程中被添加到 C2C12 细胞培养物中。向 C2C12 细胞培养物中添加抗坏血酸并不能逆转百草枯对成肌作用的抑制。这些结果表明，百草枯是体外肌肉分化的强抑制剂。
