[Muscle cell transplantations: the ups and downs].
Cell transplantation is believed to be an attractive technique among the various prospective methods of healing muscle wasting and other degenerative diseases. Muscle precursor cells can be obtained and cultured in vitro relatively easily, making possible a wide application of this method in the near future. A number of research efforts regarding cell transplantation for the recovery of dystrophic muscles and attempts to accelerate convalescence of disabled heart muscle are underway. There are also initiatives to use muscle cells in the repair of urinary incontinence. In the case of muscle dystrophy, very promising results were achieved in animal models, but the procedure has proved unreliable in clinical tests on humans. More convincing results were obtained from muscle cells transferred to myocardium. This procedure gave positive response in both animal models and clinical trials. However, there are still several obstacles to transplant muscle cells. First there is the poor viability of muscle cells after transfer. This results in sudden cell death, which occurs within a few hours after the cells are transferred to the recipient. A major concern recently is to develop procedures which will improve the efficacy of muscle cell transplantation. Growing interest is focused on autologous cell transplantation owing to the low immunogenicity of this kind of transfer. Moreover, numerous attempts are underway to suppress inflammation at the site of cell deposition or to search for subpopulations of cells which would result in a higher survival rate after transfer. Furthermore, genetic manipulations or preconditioning of muscle cells prior to transfer are often performed.
Katedra Nauk Fizjologicznych, Wydział Medycyny Weterynaryjnej Szkoły Głównej Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego w Warszawie.
Anna
A
Burdzińska
Sybilla
S
Berwid
Arkadiusz
A
Orzechowski
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D032342:Muscle Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D009136:Muscular Dystrophies / Q000601:surgery*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000601:surgery; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous / Q000379:methods; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000601:surgery