Human muscle precursor cells give rise to functional satellite cells in vivo

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Neuromuscular Disorders Volume 17, Issue 8, Pages 631-638

(August 2007)

Human muscle precursor cells give rise to functional satellite cells

in vivo

Janine Ehrhardta, Karima Brimahab, Carl Adkinb, Terence Partridgeac,

ab

Abstract

Mouse satellite cells have been shown to be functional muscle stem

cells, in that they are able to regenerate skeletal muscle and to

reconstitute the satellite cell pool. Although human muscle

precursor cells are able to contribute to skeletal muscle

regeneration following transplantation into host mouse muscles, it

is uncertain whether they also give rise to functional satellite

cells.

Here, we transplant human fetal muscle precursor cells into

cryodamaged muscles in C5-/ã-chain-/Rag2-host mice. The donor cells

gave rise to muscle fibres that persisted for up to 6 months after

grafting. Isolated muscle fibres, bearing satellite cells, were

prepared from muscles 4 weeks after grafting. When placed in

culture, a small proportion of these fibres gave rise to muscle

precursor cells of human origin, indicating that the originally

grafted cells had formed satellite cells as well as regenerated

muscle fibres. These satellite cell-derived human muscle precursor

cells were expanded in culture and formed muscle following their

transplantation into a second series of host mice. This provides

evidence that human, as well as mouse, muscle precursor cells, are

capable of forming functional satellite cells in vivo.