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Stem cells find ways to repair damaged muscles

Friday 2nd December 2011

Scientists have found a new way for stem cells to repair damaged muscles which could be a major breakthrough for those in physiotherapy jobs.

A team of researchers at the University of Missouri discovered that when a muscle is broken dormant adult cells known as satellite cells "wake up" to help it recover. The new find means that doctors and physiotherapists could better treat conditions such as muscular dystrophy.

In a new study, the team used time-lapse microscopy to follow the movement of satellite cells. They found that some cells contained a protein called ephrin which can direct the cell to help repair a section of the muscle if it is damaged.

D Cornelison, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Science and a researcher in the Bond Life Sciences Centre, said: "When your muscles are injured, they send out a 'mayday' for satellite cells to come and fix them, and those cells know where to go to make more muscle cells, and eventually new muscle tissue."

He went on to explain that conditions like muscular dystrophy are difficult to treat as it requires 100 injections per square centimetre and up to 4,000 injections in an injured muscle as the stem cells do not tend to spread out much.

The scientist added: "The stem cell movement is similar to the way a person would act if asked to walk blindfolded down a hallway. They would feel for the walls. The long, parallel muscle fibres carry these ephrin proteins on their surface, ephrin might be helping satellite cells move in a straighter line towards a distant 'mayday' signal."

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy and according to the FSH society it tends to present signs in 95 per cent of affected cases in the second decade of life for men and the third decade of life for women. The condition can cause progressive loss, wasting and atrophy of all skeletal muscles.

written by James Puckle