The novelty of this technique is that it generates a larger number of
muscle stem cells without using genetic modification, which is required by existing methods for making muscle cells.
The technique also creates a sustainable pool
of muscle stem cells needed to support multiple rounds of muscle repair.
A genetic approach in the mouse has been used to examine how
skeletal muscle stem cells are born, and how they acquire their identity.
I thought that if they are so important in the embryo, they must be important for
adult muscle stem cells.
A key issue we address is the tissue environment in
which muscle stem cells are activated.
The scientist believe that these two
embryonic muscle stem cell genes also tell the stem cells to become quiet as the organism matures.
The researchers then looked at whether the same was true upon injury, after which the repair process
requires muscle stem cells to make new muscles.
Two recent studies published in Diabetes and Scientific Reports highlight the loss
of muscle stem cells early on in the disease; a likely key to the muscle deterioration which happens later on.
Using genetic tricks, I was able to suppress both genes in the adult
muscle stem cells.
Baltimore, MD — Scientists working at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Embryology, with colleagues, have overturned previous research that identified critical genes for
making muscle stem cells.
To discover the next steps on the way forward for this exciting breakthrough
for muscle stem cell research, stay tuned to the Stem Cells Portal!
Following the generation of iMPCs by induced Pax7 overexpression in hPSC - derived mesoderm cells, Rao et al. employed two - dimensional (2D) conditions to generate a monolayer culture containing two essential components of skeletal muscle tissue: spontaneously contracting multinucleated myotubes and Pax7
expressing muscle stem cell - like cells.
This process is also important in adult life
because muscle stem cells fuse with existing fibers to achieve muscle growth and help regenerate damaged muscles.
Previous studies have shown that two genes Pax3 and Pax7, are essential for making the embryonic and
neonatal muscle stem cells in the mouse.
Researchers discover that the inhibition of a lysine methyltransferase allows for the long - culture and amplification of
human muscle stem cells
They also looked for genes not previously studied for having a role in
fusing muscle stem cells.
Abstract Regeneration of the adult skeletal muscle tissue relies on a pool of
quiescent muscle stem cells located in a niche around the myofibers: the satellite cells (MuSCs).
In the same way, whereas NR supplementation
increased muscle stem cell number in aged mice, thereby enhancing mitochondrial function and muscle strength, it reduced the expression of cell senescence and apoptosis markers [233]; the state of senescence is important to protect against carcinogenesis [234].
A detour on the road to regenerative medicine for people with muscular disorders is figuring out how to
coax muscle stem cells to fuse together and form functioning skeletal muscle tissues.
Led by researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Heart Institute, the study demonstrates the gene Gm7325 and its protein — which the scientists named «myomerger» —
prompt muscle stem cells to fuse and develop skeletal muscles the body needs to move and survive.
This summer Wagers published research [subscription required] showing that
when muscle stem cells were transferred into mice with a type of muscular dystrophy, the rodents» muscle function improved.
The investigators found that when LIF -
treated muscle stem cells were transplanted to skeletal muscle, they formed two to three times more muscle fibers as control cells did.
While transplantation of
such muscle stem cells can be a potent therapy for degenerative muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, these cells tend to lose their transplantation efficiency when cultured in vitro.
Human muscle cells assemble to form aligned, multinucleated (purple) muscle fibers and
resident muscle stem cells (white).
The team could
isolate muscle stem cells from the male mice before they died and when they transplanted them into muscle - damaged recipient mice, they found that the stem cells were able to regenerate new muscle.
The study, published in Nature Medicine on November 16, 2015, is the first to show that Duchenne muscular dystrophy directly
affects muscle stem cells.
They also discovered that dystrophin is a key member of the molecular machinery that
enables muscle stem cells sense their orientation in the surrounding tissue.
More than a decade ago, Discover covered the concept of a coffee - maker - like device that could, overnight, turn a few
animal muscle stem cells into a nice hunk of meat.
Experimental approaches such as gene therapy are also being investigated, but Dr. Rudnicki's research suggests that these approaches will have to be modified so that they
target muscle stem cells as well as muscle fibres.
Last December, for instance, Chien's group reported finding markers for
heart muscle stem cells by tracing their development from embryonic tissue.
But that idea was confusing to many because GDF11 is very similar to the protein myostatin, which
prevents muscle stem cells from differentiating into mature muscle — the opposite effect to that seen by Wagers and her team.
In work published today in Cell Reports, scientists describe why
fetal muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are better at regenerating muscle compared to adult MuSCs.
«Teaching stem cells to build muscle: New research shows
young muscle stem cells can improve adult muscle regeneration.»
These
endogenous muscle stem cells promote regeneration of skeletal muscles after injury and that participate in adaptation to exercise.
The group now shows that
female muscle stem cells are indeed better at regenerating diseased muscle in a mouse model.
«Drugs that target DUX4 should allow these transplanted DUX4 -
expressing muscle stem cells to make more new muscle fibers.»
A previous student, Alice Chen, studied how these genes are turned on in
embryonic muscle stem cells (also published in Nature).
«These progenitor cells resemble
adult muscle stem cells called «satellite cells» that can theoretically grow an entire muscle starting from a single cell.»
«This is crucial
because muscle stem cells need to sense their environment to decide whether to produce more stem cells or to form new muscle fibres.
Phrases with «muscle stem»