BME 7900 Seminar Series: George Truskey (Duke) "Extrinsic Control of Skeletal Muscle Myoblast Differentiation"

Monday, March 12, 2012 at 10:10am to 11:10am

Weill Hall, 226

NOTE THE DAY AND TIME: MONDAY, MARCH 12 @ 10:10AM

Skeletal muscle progenitor cells, known as satellite cells, provide a cell source for repair of muscle injury. Under appropriate stimuli, satellite cells become proliferative myoblasts. Upon removal from the cell cycle, single cell myoblasts fuse to form myotubes. Satellite cells are attractive for tissue engineering applications to repair severe muscle injury, for cell therapy for muscle diseases, or as an in vitro model of skeletal muscle. Our group has examined ways to promote satellite cell differentiation into functional muscle fibers. We have examined the effect of mechanical stimulation in two- and three-dimensional cultures and found that myoblast differentiation is dependent upon the magnitude and frequency of stimulation. Mechanical stimulation promotes the expression of a key integrin involved in differentiation. Inhibiting nitric oxide, focal adhesion kinase activity or RhoA activity can block the effects of mechanical stimulation. We have found that small noncoding sequences of RNA, known as microRNAs, that regulate gene function by influencing proliferation or differentiation are sensitive to mechanical stimulation. Addition of microRNAs to three-dimensional cultures of myoblasts promotes differentiation and force production. Recently, we have extended this work with murine muscle cells to human myoblasts.