title: Telocytes within human skeletal muscle stem cell niche.
abstract: Human skeletal muscle tissue displays specific cellular architecture easily damaged during individual existence, requiring multiple resources for regeneration. Congruent with local prerequisites, heterogeneous muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are present in the muscle interstitium. In this study, we aimed to characterize the properties of human muscle interstitial cells that had the characteristic morphology of telocytes (TCs). Immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence showed that cells with TC morphology stained positive for c-kit/CD117 and VEGF. C-kit positive TCs were separated with magnetic-activated cell sorting, cultured in vitro and expanded for study. These cells exhibited high proliferation capacity (60% expressed endoglin/CD105 and 80% expressed nuclear Ki67). They also exhibited pluripotent capacity limited to Oct4 nuclear staining. In addition, 90% of c-kit positive TCs expressed VEGF. C-kit negative cells in the MuSCs population exhibited fibroblast-like morphology, low trilineage differential potential and negative VEGF staining. These results suggested that c-kit/CD117 positive TCs represented a unique cell type within the MuSC niche.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Victor Babes Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
authors.forename: Florina M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Bojin
authors.forename: Oana I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Gavriliuc
authors.forename: Mirabela I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Cristea
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tanasie
authors.forename: Carmen S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Tatu
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Panaitescu
authors.forename: Virgil
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paunescu
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology*; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000032:analysis; D012038:Regeneration; D055153:Stem Cell Niche; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit