UCLA scientists create first roadmap of human skeletal muscle development

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at theEli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA has developed a first-of-its-kind roadmap of how human skeletal muscle develops, including the formation of muscle stem cells.The study, published May 11 in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell, identified various cell types present in skeletal muscle tissues, from early embryonic development all the way to adulthood. Focusing on muscle progenitor cells, which contribute to muscle formation before birth, and muscle stem cells, which contribute to muscle formation after birth and to regeneration from injury throughout life, the group mapped out how the cells ’ gene networks — which genes are active and inactive — change as the cells mature.The roadmap is critical for researchers who aim to develop muscle stem cells in the lab that can be used in regenerative cell therapies for devastating muscle diseases, including muscular dystrophies, and sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.“Muscle loss due to aging or disease is often the result of dysfunctional muscle stem cells,” said April Pyle, senior author of the paper and a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. “This map identifies the precise gene networks present in muscle progenitor and stem cells across devel opment, which is essential to developing methods to generate these cells in a dish to treat muscle disorders.”Researchers in Pyle ’s lab an...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news