Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Satellite No Longer
03 November 2016

Satellite No Longer

Have you ever pulled a muscle? If so, it would have been repaired by satellite cells (SCs). These are stem cells that can develop into different types of muscle cell. Recent research into how SCs develop has found that they need to switch on a gene called Prox1 to turn into muscle cells. Prox1 switches off genes that keep the SC in a stem cell-like state, and activates genes that give it muscle cell characteristics. However, there are many muscle cell types. If the SC then continues to express Prox1, this may direct it to develop into a cell type called a slow muscle fibre cell, shown in the image. These cells contain a specific high-endurance muscular protein (green, Prox1 shown in red). Prox1 regulates stem cells in many types of tissue, so this information is important for healing and ageing research.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.