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In muscle stem cells, age matters, study finds
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-25 15:36 The team used genetic engineering to suppress both the Pax3 and Pax7 genes in adult muscle stem cells, and they found that adult stem cells were still able to function normally. "I was totally surprised to find that the muscle stem cells are normal without them," Lepper said. The researchers then looked at whether the same was true in injured muscles, when muscle stem cells go to work making new muscle tissue. To study this, they injured mouse leg muscles between the knee and ankle, and found the muscle stem cells were able to make new muscle, even without the two key embryonic muscle stem cell genes. The team said the embryonic muscle cell genes appear to only be active in mice within the first three weeks after birth. After that, they believe the genes go quiet and allow a different set of genes to take over. Finding those genes will be important as scientists pursue new treatments for diseases like muscular dystrophy, a genetic, degenerative disease that affects voluntary muscles, they said. And they said teams should look at other types of stem cells to see how age might affect their properties, and they should take age of stem cells into account in transplant-based treatments. |
