Making skeletal muscle from progenitor and stem cells: development versus regeneration.
For locomotion, vertebrate animals use the force generated by contractile skeletal muscles. These muscles form an actin/myosin-based biomachinery that is attached to skeletal elements to affect body movement and maintain posture. The mechanics, physiology, and homeostasis of skeletal muscles in normal and disease states are of significant clinical interest. How muscles originate from progenitors during embryogenesis has attracted considerable attention from developmental biologists. How skeletal muscles regenerate and repair themselves after injury by the use of stem cells is an important process to maintain muscle homeostasis throughout lifetime. In recent years, much progress has been made toward uncovering the origins of myogenic progenitors and stem cells as well as the regulation of these cells during development and regeneration.
Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, MD, USA. fan@ciwemb.edu
Chen-Ming
CM
Fan
Lydia
L
Li
Michelle E
ME
Rozo
Christoph
C
Lepper
D000818:Animals; D019070:Cell Lineage; D024510:Muscle Development; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*