Fountain of Youth: Molecular Switch Holds Key to Reserve Supply of Muscle Stem Cell

[Bhaskar]

9.03.2007 - (idw) Max-Delbrück- Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC)
Berlin-Buch

After injury, even muscles can heal very well because they have a reserve supply of muscle stem cells, called satellite cells, which they can utilize for repair. Until now, it was unclear how this supply of satellite and muscle progenitor cells, out of which both muscle cells as well as satellite cells develop, keeps itself "fresh". Developmental biologists Professor Carmen Birchmeier, Dr. Elena Vasyutina, and Diana Lenhard of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now demonstrated that a molecular switch, abbreviated RBP-J, regulates this "fountain of youth". If the switch is absent, the satellite cells generate
muscle cells in an uncontrolled way, resulting in the depletion of the satellite cell reserves. As a consequence, too few muscles form during the developmental phase of a living organism and the fetus can no longer build up a reserve supply of satellite cells. The MDC scientists' research report, which could be of significance for the future development of stem cell therapies, has just been published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)*. Muscle stem cells were discovered in the beginning of the 1960s. For a long time, researchers could only identify them with the aid of an electron microscope. These cells are located between the muscle cell membrane and the layer surrounding it (the
basal membrane). It has been known for some time that satellite cells have characteristic surface molecules and transcription factors which allow researchers to find these cells more easily. ............

Corresponding author: Carmen Birchmeier; Phone: +49-30-9406 2403,
Fax: +49-30-9406 3765; E-mail: cbirch@mdc-berlin.de

Barbara Bachtler
Press and Public Affairs
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch
Robert-Rössle- Straße 10; 13125 Berlin; Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 96
Fax: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 33
e-mail: presse@mdc-berlin.de
http://www.mdc-berlin.de/englisch/ab...ns/e_index.htm
Weitere Informationen: http://www.pnas.org/
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Holds Key to Reserve Supply of Muscle Stem Cells

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