The aim of this study was to evaluate transcriptome changes in the muscle tissue of Bos taurus indicus cull cows subjected to recovery weight gain under grazing conditions. In all, 38 Nellore cull cows were divided randomly into two different management groups: (1) Maintenance (MA) and (2) Recovery gain (RG) from weight loss by moderate growth under high forage availability. After slaughter, RNA analysis was performed on the Longissimus thoracis muscle. Semaphorin 4A, solute carrier family 11 member 1, and Ficolin-2 were expressed in the RG, which may indicate an inflammatory response during tissue regrowth. Signaling factors, such as Myostatin, related to fibroblast activation, negative control of satellite cell proliferation in adults and muscle protein synthesis were less abundant in the RG group. The only gene related to anabolic processes that were more abundant in the MA group was related to fat deposition. The genes that were differentially expressed in the experiment showed muscle repair-related changes during RG based on the greater expression of genes involved in inflammatory responses and the lower expression of negative regulators of muscle cell proliferation and hypertrophy.
Keywords: extracellular matrix; growth; inflammatory process; proteases; protein metabolism.