Abstract
Skeletal muscle is essential for mobility, stability, and whole body metabolism, and muscle loss, for instance during sarcopenia, has profound consequences. Satellite cells (muscle stem cells) have been hypothesized, but not yet demonstrated, to contribute to muscle homeostasis and a decline in their contribution to myofiber homeostasis to play a part in sarcopenia. To test their role in muscle maintenance, we genetically labeled and ablated satellite cells in adult sedentary mice. We demonstrate via genetic lineage experiments that even in the absence of injury, satellite cells contribute to myofibers in all adult muscles, although the extent and timing differs. However, genetic ablation experiments showed that satellite cells are not globally required to maintain myofiber cross-sectional area of uninjured adult muscle.
Highlights
Skeletal muscle is essential for mobility, stability and whole body metabolism, and muscle loss, for instance, during sarcopenia, has profound consequences
We focused on hind limb muscles because these are highly susceptible to sarcopenia in humans and mice[1,3,15,24,25,26]
We examined the extensor digitorum longus (EDL), which is highly enriched in fast myofibres; the soleus, which has 450% slow (MyHCI þ ) myofibres[27,28] and the tibialis anterior (TA), gastrocnemius and plantaris, which are composed of a range of myofibre types[27,28]
Summary
Skeletal muscle is essential for mobility, stability and whole body metabolism, and muscle loss, for instance, during sarcopenia, has profound consequences. Satellite cells (muscle stem cells) have been hypothesized, but not yet demonstrated, to contribute to muscle homeostasis and a decline in their contribution to myofibre homeostasis to play a part in sarcopenia. To test their role in muscle maintenance, we genetically labelled and ablated satellite cells in adult sedentary mice. Genetic ablation experiments showed that satellite cells are not globally required to maintain myofibre cross-sectional area of uninjured adult muscle. Genetic ablation experiments showed that satellite cells are not globally required to maintain myofibre CSA of uninjured adult muscle
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