The Skeletal Muscle Satellite Cell: The Stem Cell That Came In From the Cold

Peter S. Zammit ^1*, Terence A. Partridge ¹ and Zipora Yablonka-Reuveni ¹

¹ Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, London, England (PSZ); Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC (TAP); and Department of Biological Structure and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington (ZY-R)

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: peter.zammit{at}kcl.ac.uk .

Submitted on April 19, 2006
Accepted on 27 July 2006

	Abstract

The muscle satellite cell was first described, and actually named, on the basis of its anatomical location under the basement membrane surrounding each myofiber. For many years following its discovery, electron microscopy provided the only definitive method of identification. More recently, several molecular markers have been described that can be used to detect satellite cells, making them more accessible for study at the light microscope level. Satellite cells supply myonuclei to growing myofibers before becoming mitotically quiescent in muscle as it matures. They are then activated from this quiescent state to fulfil their roles in routine maintenance, hypertrophy and repair of adult muscle. Since muscle is able to efficiently regenerate after repeated bouts of damage, systems must be in place to maintain a viable satellite cell pool and it was proposed over 30 years ago that self-renewal was the primary mechanism. Self-renewal entails either a stochastic event or an asymmetric cell division, where one daughter cell is committed to differentiation while the second continues to proliferate or becomes quiescent. This classic model of satellite cell self-renewal and the importance of satellite cells in muscle maintenance and repair has been challenged in the past few years as bone marrow-derived cells and various intramuscular populations were shown to be able to contribute myonuclei and occupy the satellite cell niche. This is a fast moving and dynamic field however, and in this review, we discuss the evidence that we think puts this enigmatic cell firmly back at the center of adult myogenesis.

Key Words: satellite cell, stem cell, myogenesis, myoblast, skeletal muscle, Pax7, self-renewal, regeneration, MyoD, aging

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