Building Muscle

When our muscles are injured they need to repair themselves. Satellite cells are a kind of stem cell essential for muscle regeneration. They develop into new muscle cells to replace damaged ones. But in people with certain muscle disorders, such as muscular dystrophy, the satellite cells are unable to produce a protein – called collagen VI – that’s vital to their proper operation. Pictured are muscle cells of mice that are also unable to produce collagen VI, but have been grafted with a different cell type – fibroblasts – that can produce it for them. Collagen VI (stained light pink) from the fibroblasts is seen flooding the muscle, which leads to greatly improved satellite cell activity. This research holds promise for treating a wide range of muscle disorders.

Written by Robin Hersom

Robin Hersom

Writer

Robin is interning at the Public Engagement, Media and Grants team at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre to learn about science communication, and as part of the job is researching and writing for BPoD.

• Thomas Rando, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
• Paolo Bonaldo, University of Padova, Italy
• Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Communications Copyright 2013
• Published in Nature Communications 4:1964