title: Stem Cells and Tissue Niche: Two Faces of the Same Coin of Muscle Regeneration.
abstract: Capacity of adult muscle to regenerate in response to injury stimuli represents an important homeostatic process. Regeneration is a highly coordinated program that partially recapitulates the embryonic developmental program. However, muscle regeneration is severely compromised in several pathological conditions. It is likely that the restricted tissue repair program under pathological conditions is due to either progressive loss of stem cell populations or to missing signals that limit the damaged tissues to efficiently activate a regenerative program. It is therefore plausible that loss of control over these cell fates might lead to a pathological cell transdifferentiation, limiting the ability of a pathological muscle to sustain an efficient regenerative process. The critical role of microenvironment on stem cells activity and muscle regeneration is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Histology and Embryology, Catholic University School of Medicine , Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Bianca Maria
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Scicchitano
authors.affiliation: Institute of Histology and Embryology, Catholic University School of Medicine , Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gigliola
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sica
authors.affiliation: Institute Pasteur Cenci-Bolognetti; DAHFMO-Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, IIM; Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Center for Life Nano Science@Sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Musarò
keywords: IGF-1; muscle pathologies; muscle regeneration; satellite cells; tissue niche