Guide cells support muscle regeneration and affect neuro-muscular junction organization

Muscular regeneration is a complex biological process that occurs during acute injury and chronic degeneration, implicating several cell types. One of the earliest events of muscle regeneration is the inflammatory response, followed by the activation and differentiation of muscle progenitor cells. However, the process of novel neuromuscular junction formation during muscle regeneration is still largely unexplored. Here, we identify by single-cell RNA sequencing and isolate a subset of vessel-associated cells able to improve myogenic differentiation. We termed them 'guide' cells because of their remarkable ability to improve myogenesis without fusing with the newly formed fibers. In vitro, these cells showed a marked mobility and ability to contact the forming myotubes. We found that these cells are characterized by CD44 and CD34 surface markers and the expression of Ng2 and Ncam2. In addition, in a murine model of acute muscle injury and regeneration, injection of guide cells correlated with increased numbers of newly formed neuromuscular junctions. Thus, we propose that guide cells modulate de novo generation of neuromuscular junctions in regenerating myofibers. Further studies are necessary to investigate the origin of those cells and the extent to which they are required for terminal specification of regenerating myofibers

Long-term miR-669a therapy alleviates chronic dilated cardiomyopathy in dystrophic mice.

BACKGROUND: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a leading cause of chronic morbidity and mortality in muscular dystrophy (MD) patients. Current pharmacological treatments are not yet able to counteract chronic myocardial wastage, thus novel therapies are being intensely explored. MicroRNAs have been implicated as fine regulators of cardiomyopathic progression. Previously, miR-669a downregulation has been linked to the severe DCM progression displayed by Sgcb-null dystrophic mice. However, the impact of long-term overexpression of miR-669a on muscle structure and functionality of the dystrophic heart is yet unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here, we demonstrate that intraventricular delivery of adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors induces long-term (18 months) miR-669a overexpression and improves survival of Sgcb-null mice. Treated hearts display significant decrease in hypertrophic remodeling, fibrosis, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Moreover, miR-669a treatment increases sarcomere organization, reduces ventricular atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) levels, and ameliorates gene/miRNA profile of DCM markers. Furthermore, long-term miR-669a overexpression significantly reduces adverse remodeling and enhances systolic fractional shortening of the left ventricle in treated dystrophic mice, without significant detrimental consequences on skeletal muscle wastage. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide the first evidence of long-term beneficial impact of AAV-mediated miRNA therapy in a transgenic model of severe, chronic MD-associated DCM

Mesoangioblasts at 20: from the embryonic aorta to the patient bed

In 2002 we published an article describing a population of vessel-associated progenitors that we termed mesoangioblasts (MABs). During the past decade evidence had accumulated that during muscle development and regeneration things may be more complex than a simple sequence of binary choices (e.g., dorsal vs. ventral somite). LacZ expressing fibroblasts could fuse with unlabelled myoblasts but not among themselves or with other cell types. Bone marrow derived, circulating progenitors were able to participate in muscle regeneration, though in very small percentage. Searching for the embryonic origin of these progenitors, we identified them as originating at least in part from the embryonic aorta and, at later stages, from the microvasculature of skeletal muscle. While continuing to investigate origin and fate of MABs, the fact that they could be expanded in vitro (also from human muscle) and cross the vessel wall, suggested a protocol for the cell therapy of muscular dystrophies. We tested this protocol in mice and dogs before proceeding to the first clinical trial on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy patients that showed safety but minimal efficacy. In the last years, we have worked to overcome the problem of low engraftment and tried to understand their role as auxiliary myogenic progenitors during development and regeneration

Muscle Interstitial Cells: A Brief Field Guide to Non-satellite Cell Populations in Skeletal Muscle

Skeletal muscle regeneration is mainly enabled by a population of adult stem cells known as satellite cells. Satellite cells have been shown to be indispensable for adult skeletal muscle repair and regeneration. In the last two decades, other stem/progenitor cell populations resident in the skeletal muscle interstitium have been identified as "collaborators" of satellite cells during regeneration. They also appear to have a key role in replacing skeletal muscle with adipose, fibrous, or bone tissue in pathological conditions. Here, we review the role and known functions of these different interstitial skeletal muscle cell types and discuss their role in skeletal muscle tissue homeostasis, regeneration, and disease, including their therapeutic potential for cell transplantation protocols

Pluripotent stem cell derivation and differentiation toward cardiac muscle: novel techniques and advances in patent literature.

Pluripotent stem cells hold unprecedented potential for regenerative medicine, disease modeling and drug screening. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs), standard model for pluripotency studies, have been recently flanked by induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). iPSCs are obtained from somatic cells via epigenetic and transcriptional reprogramming, overcoming ESC-related ethical issues and enabling the possibility of donor-matching pluripotent cell lines. Since the European Court of Justice banned patents involving embryo disaggregation to generate human ESCs, iPSCs can now fuel the willingness of European companies to invest in treatments based on stem cells. Moreover, iPSCs share many unique features of ESCs, such as unlimited self-renewal potential and broad differentiation capability, even though iPSCs seem more susceptible to genomic instability and display epigenetic biases as compared to ESCs. Both ESCs and iPSCs have been intensely investigated for cardiomyocyte production and cardiac muscle regeneration, both in human and animal models. In vitro and in vivo studies are continuously expanding and refining this field via genetic manipulation and cell conditioning, trying to achieve standard and reproducible products, eligible for clinical and biopharmaceutical scopes. This review focuses on the recently growing body of patents, concerning technical advances in production, expansion and cardiac differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs

Multiplexing and demultiplexing logic functions for computing signal processing tasks in synthetic biology.

Building biological devices to perform computational and signal processing tasks is one of the main research issues in synthetic biology. Herein, two modular biological systems that could mimic multiplexing and demultiplexing logic functions are proposed and discussed. These devices, called multiplexer (mux) and demultiplexer (demux), respectively, have a remarkable importance in electronic, telecommunication, and signal processing systems and, similarly, they could play a crucial role if implemented in a living organism, such as Escherichia coli. BioBrick standard parts were used to design mux and demux and to construct two genetic circuits that could carry out the desired tasks. A modular approach, mimicking basic logic gates (AND, OR, and NOT) with protein/autoinducer or protein/DNA interactions and interconnecting them to create the final circuits, was adopted. A mathematical model of the designed gene networks was been defined and simulations performed to validate the expected behavior of the systems. In addition, circuit subparts were tested in vivo and the results used to determine some of the parameters of the mathematical model. According to both the experimental and simulated results, guidelines for future finalization of mux and demux are provided.status: publishe