Cells from skeletal muscle could be an important source of stem cells for repairing damaged muscle or nerve tissue

November 19, 2004

Cells from skeletal muscle could be an important source of stem cells

for repairing damaged muscle or nerve tissue

Cells from skeletal muscle could be an important source of stem cells

for repairing damaged muscle or nerve tissue, suggest authors of a

research article in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

A group of cells called skeletal-muscle satellite cells are able to

regenerate muscle fibres. Giulio Alessandri (Carlo Besta Neurological

Institute, Milan, Italy) and colleagues investigated whether these cells

can differentiate into different types of mesenchymal cell (the types of

cell that eventually form connective tissue, bone, cartilage, and the

circulatory and lymphatic systems). In particular they investigated the

capacity of muscle stem cells to differentiate into neural cell

lineages.

Arm-muscle cells were obtained from 12 patients undergoing coronary

artery surgery. These cells were cultured and transferred into rats with

spinal-cord injury. The cells were able to organise skeletal-muscle

fibres in the rats; furthermore, they differentiated into astrocytes

(precursors of nerve cells) and neurons.

Dr Alessandri comments: “Adult human skeletal muscle includes a

population of progenitor stem cells that can generate cells of the same

lineage and cells with neurogenic properties. Adult muscle may therefore

be a tissue source for the isolation of stem cells for development of

cell-based therapies for human myogenic and neurogenic diseases.”

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