Two Stem Cells Genes Not Needed In Muscle Regeneration
Posted on: Thursday, 25 June 2009, 14:20 CDT
Genes that make muscle stem cells in embryos are not needed in adult muscle stem cells after muscle injuries or deterioration, researchers reported on Thursday.
Writing in the journal Nature, Christoph Lepper and colleagues from Carnegie Institute’s Department of Embryology, found evidence to refute previous claims that relies on matching stem cells by age for therapy.
"The paired-box genes, Pax3 and Pax7 are involved in the development of the skeletal muscles,” said Lepper. It is well established that both genes are needed to produce muscle stem cells in the embryo.”
Lepper referred to findings of a previous student named Alice Chen, who showed how the two genes “are turned on in embryonic muscle stem cells.”
“I thought that if they are so important in the embryo, they must be important for adult muscle stem cells,” said Lepper.
He and his colleagues studied the two cells’ ability to promote stem cells at different stages of muscle growth in mice.
“Using genetic tricks, I was able to suppress both genes in the adult muscle stem cells.”
Researchers also studied to see if the same worked to repair muscles after injury. They injured leg muscles between the knee and ankle and found that these muscle stem cells, without the two key embryonic muscle stem cell genes, could generate muscles as well as normal muscle stem cells. They repeated the injury process again, and made the same observation.
“I was totally surprised to find that the muscle stem cells are normal without them," Lepper wrote.
"We are just beginning to learn the basics of stem cell biology, and there are many surprises," said Allan Spradling, director of Carnegie's Department of Embryology.
"This work illustrates the importance of carrying out basic research using animal models before rushing into the clinic with half-baked therapies."
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Image Caption: Image Caption: A colony of embryonic stem cells, from the H9 cell line (NIH code: WA09). Viewed at 10X with Carl Zeiss Axiovert scope. Courtesy Wikipedia
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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