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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figures All Versions of this Article: 294/2/C604    most recent 00383.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Di Rocco, G. Articles by Capogrossi, M. C. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Di Rocco, G. Articles by Capogrossi, M. C.

MUSCLE CELL BIOLOGY AND CELL MOTILITY

Spontaneous myogenic differentiation of Flk-1-positive cells from adult pancreas and other nonmuscle tissues

¹Laboratorio di Biologia Vascolare e Terapia Genica, Centro Cardiologico Fondazione Monzino, Milan; and ²Laboratorio di Patologia Vascolare, Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata, Rome, Italy

Submitted 24 August 2007 ; accepted in final form 16 December 2007

At the embryonic or fetal stages, autonomously myogenic cells (AMCs), i.e., cells able to spontaneously differentiate into skeletal myotubes, have been identified from several different sites other than skeletal muscle, including the vascular compartment. However, in the adult animal, AMCs from skeletal muscle-devoid tissues have been described in only two cases. One is represented by thymic myoid cells, a restricted population of committed myogenic progenitors of unknown derivation present in the thymic medulla; the other is represented by a small subset of adipose tissue-associated cells, which we recently identified. In the present study we report, for the first time, the presence of spontaneously differentiating myogenic precursors in the pancreas and in other skeletal muscle-devoid organs such as spleen and stomach, as well as in the periaortic tissue of adult mice. Immunomagnetic selection procedures indicate that AMCs derive from Flk-1⁺ progenitors. Individual clones of myogenic cells from nonmuscle organs are morphologically and functionally indistinguishable from skeletal muscle-derived primary myoblasts. Moreover, they can be induced to proliferate in vitro and are able to participate in muscle regeneration in vivo. Thus, we provide evidence that fully competent myogenic progenitors can be derived from the Flk-1⁺ compartment of several adult tissues that are embryologically unrelated to skeletal muscle.

adult tissues; ectopic skeletal muscle progenitors; spontaneous myogenesis