Muscle‐derived stem cells: Potential for muscle regeneration

Abstract

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating X-linked muscle disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness caused by the lack of dystrophin expression at the sarcolemma of muscle fibers. Although various approaches to delivering dystrophin in dystrophic muscle have been investigated extensively (e.g., cell and gene therapy), there is still no treatment that alleviates the muscle weakness in this common inherited muscle disease. The transplantation of myoblasts can enable transient delivery of dystrophin and improve the strength of injected dystrophic muscle, but this approach has various limitations, including immune rejection, poor cellular survival rates, and the limited spread of the injected cells. The isolation of muscle cells that can overcome these limitations would enhance the success of myoblast transplantation significantly. The efficiency of cell transplantation might be improved through the use of stem cells, which display unique features, including (1) self-renewal with production of progeny, (2) appearance early in development and persistence throughout life, and (3) long-term proliferation and multipotency. For these reasons, the development of muscle stem cells for use in transplantation or gene transfer (ex vivo approach) as treatment for patients with muscle disorders has become more attractive in the past few years. In this paper, we review the current knowledge regarding the isolation and characterization of stem cells isolated from skeletal muscle by highlighting their biological features and their relationship to satellite cells as well as other populations of stem cells derived from other tissues. We also describe the remarkable ability of stem cells to regenerate skeletal muscle and their potential use to alleviate the muscle weakness associated with DMD.

Isolation and passage of muscle-derived stem cells from the rat penile corpora cavernosa and induction of differentiation into smooth muscle cells

“…Regardless of the passage number, the cell proliferative activity remained high. In the present study, the cellular morphology, attachment time, and growth features were similar to the aforementioned MDSC characteristics reported by Huard et al (2003).…”

“…Since MDSCs can differentiate into muscle, endothelial, and nerve cells, they might serve as a promising tool for the treatment of ED. According to Huard et al (2003), MDSCs possess the biological characteristics of low adhesion, round shape, small size, high refractive index, and low proliferation rate. After 48 h of culture, cell attachment was accomplished and the cells gradually expanded into a polygonal shape.…”

Reversine-treated fibroblasts acquire myogenic competence in vitro and in regenerating skeletal muscle

“…[3][4][5] In contrast with embryonic stem cells (ESCs), that nonetheless raise ethic controversy, the majority of human adult stem cells are difficult to expand in culture to the scale required for possible therapeutic applications without loss of pluripotency. In the past few years, several types of adult stem cells have been isolated from different sources and tested for their capability of rescuing the phenotype of several diseases, including muscular dystrophy.…”

Biological characteristics of muscle-derived satellite cells isolated from rats at different postnatal days

“…Desmin is intermediate filament protein, one ingredient of the cytoskeleton, which is specifically expressed in muscle fibers, and positive desmin immunostaining confirmed that the isolated cells were myogenic. Original satellite cells express the transcription factor PAX7, while activated satellite cells express both PAX 7 and MyoD (Huard et al 2003). As activated satellite cells proliferate and differentiate, the expression of PAX 7 is downregulated, and the myogenic regulatory factors Myf5, MyoD, myogenin and MRF4 are only found in activated satellite cells, where they mediate the activation of skeletal muscle specialization genes and induce the differentiation of satellite cells (Seale and Rudnicki 2000).…”