Stem cells increase muscle in mice

• April 20, 2024

Inject mother cells The extremities of injured mice caused their muscles to grow twice as fast in a matter of days, creating super mice. The musculature managed to stay the same for the rest of their lives, reported researchers at the University of Colorado (UC), United States.

The study shows that certain types of stem cells could repair damaged muscles and improve the functionality and size that usually deteriorates over the years, this discovery could be of great help in the study of new treatments to cure Chronic degenerative muscle diseases in humans, according to publications of Science Daily.

The teacher Bradley Olwin from the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at UC pointed out that muscle stem cells are found in populations of "satellite" cells located between the muscle fiber and the surrounding connective tissue, responsible for repairing and maintaining muscles.

In the experiments performed it was shown that when young mice with muscle injuries They were injected with muscle stem cells from other donor mice, the cells not only repaired the damage of the lesions in a few days, but also caused the treated muscles to grow with twice the mass and strength for the rest of their lives, according to the portal. the UC.

"The environment where the stem cells are injected is very important, because it tells the cells where there is a lesion and they respond in a unique way," explains Olwin. "We expected the cells to enter, repopulate, repair the muscle damage and dissipate, and it was a surprise that they did not." The transplanted stem cells remained altered and reduced the muscle aging .

Olwin said that his research team is starting to experiment to see if transplant human muscle stem cells or larger animals to mice has the same effects. "If these experiments work and produce positive results, it could suggest that transplanting human muscle stem cells is possible," he said.