Fat's unexpected role in muscle stem cell fate

Depending on the level of droplets in the cell, satellite cells can be muscle cells or self-renew. A professor at a university has shown for the first time that fat in adult muscle stem cells regulates their fate. Shihuan Kuang is a student at the university.

Scientists have shown for the first time that fat inside adult muscle stem cells regulates their fate.

"No one had seen the dynamics of the droplets in these muscle stem cells, so this discovery is very exciting," said Kuang, a professor of animal sciences. It is remarkable that they play a role in the fate of the stem cells. Potential implications for muscular diseases, aging and animal sciences are what it has.

Cells have various types of fat that are essential for their function. The special structures are called lipid droplets.

Researchers discovered that the number of droplets in an individual cell varies from cell to cell, rather than being a static pool of resources. The number of droplets affects what stem cells become.

Kuang said the discovery and newly identified roles of lipids in other stem cell types suggest fat may be involved in much more than previously thought. There is a paper in the journal Cell Reports.

Satellite cells are a stem cell population responsible for muscle development. In the adult muscle, the cells are kept in a state of inactiveness until there is an injury. They reproduce through divisions and some cells become muscle cells to replace the damaged cells in a process called differentiation. Others return to inactive status through a process called self-renewal.

Stem cells with higher numbers of droplets continued to divide and become muscle cells, and those with lower numbers returned to replenish the stock of dormant stem cells for the next injury," Kuang said. "During self-renewal, they deplete or rid themselves of the lipid droplets, and in a dormant state contain none."

They discovered that as each cell divides, the droplets are not always equally distributed. Some descendant cells have more droplets than others, and this leads to cell fate segregation into self-renewal or differentiation.

Maintaining a healthy balance of the cells is dependent on the droplet dynamics. We don't want the stem cells dividing uncontrollably, as is what happens in cancer, but we need new muscle cells for the repair. The depletion of droplets is a way to stop proliferation.

Kuang's research team focused on both fat and muscle in previous studies.

He said that they had the tools in place to make the discovery. A researcher on our team noticed the dynamics of the stem cells when staining them. They were not known to be so abundant and dynamic at that time. We wondered why they were here. We had to find out.

The team used muscle stem cells and a mouse model to determine the function of the droplets. The team took 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299

The results were amazing, as either too many or too few droplets disrupted stem cell fate, said Yue, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Stem cell's regeneration function may be stimulated by manipulating the droplet dynamics in the satellite cells.

The team includes graduate students in animal sciences and a researcher in agricultural.

Kuang wants to study the role of the droplets in muscle repair.

He said that they don't yet fully understand the regulators and mediators of the droplets in the muscle stem cells. It is possible that there are secondary metabolites formed from the degradation of the lipid droplets. These fats may be more than a source of energy for the cell.

Cell Reports (22) has more information on the Lipid droplet dynamics regulate adult muscle stem cell fate. Thecelrep.

Cell reports are in the journal.

Fat's unexpected role in muscle stem cell fate was retrieved fromphys.org on January 24, 2022.

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