P3.20 Mouse and human skeletal muscle cells differentiate in a temperature-dependent manner

Abstract

We have been studying the effects of low temperature on differentiation of mammalian skeletal muscle cells in culture. C2C12 cells and human skeletal muscle cells neither expressed myogenin, one of the myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), nor fused into multinucleated myotubes at 30°C. However, the cells formed myotubes at the same level as a culture at 38°C, the normal temperature condition, when they were cultured in medium containing both insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and l-ascorbic acid phosphate, stabilized form of vitamin C (VC).