Monthly Archives: July 2014

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

21-Jul-2014

Contact: Diana Yates diya@illinois.edu 217-333-5802 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A new study in mice reveals that mesenchymal (mezz-EN-chem-uhl) stem cells (MSCs) help rejuvenate skeletal muscle after resistance exercise.

By injecting MSCs into mouse leg muscles prior to several bouts of eccentric exercise (similar to the lengthening contractions performed during resistance training in humans that result in mild muscle damage), researchers were able to increase the rate of repair and enhance the growth and strength of those muscles in the exercising mice.

The findings, described in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, may one day lead to new interventions to combat age-related declines in muscle structure and function, said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Marni Boppart, who led the research.

"We have an interest in understanding how muscle responds to exercise, and which cellular components contribute to the increase in repair and growth with exercise," she said. "But the primary goal of our lab really is to have some understanding of how we can rejuvenate the aged muscle to prevent the physical disability that occurs with age, and to increase quality of life in general as well."

MSCs occur naturally in the body and may differentiate into several different cell types. They form part of the stroma, the connective tissue that supports organs and other tissues.

MSCs also excrete growth factors and, according to the new study, stimulate muscle precursor cells, called satellite cells, to expand inside the tissue and contribute to repair following injury. Once present and activated, satellite cells actually fuse to the damaged muscle fibers and form new fibers to reconstruct the muscle and enhance strength.

"Satellite cells are a primary target for the rejuvenation of aged muscle, since activation becomes increasingly impaired and recovery from injury is delayed over the lifespan," Boppart said. "MSC transplantation may provide a viable solution to reawaken the aged satellite cell."

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Stem cells aid muscle repair and strengthening after resistance exercise

A new study in mice reveals that mesenchymal (mezz-EN-chem-uhl) stem cells (MSCs) help rejuvenate skeletal muscle after resistance exercise.

By injecting MSCs into mouse leg muscles prior to several bouts of eccentric exercise (similar to the lengthening contractions performed during resistance training in humans that result in mild muscle damage), researchers were able to increase the rate of repair and enhance the growth and strength of those muscles in the exercising mice.

The findings, described in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, may one day lead to new interventions to combat age-related declines in muscle structure and function, said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Marni Boppart, who led the research.

"We have an interest in understanding how muscle responds to exercise, and which cellular components contribute to the increase in repair and growth with exercise," she said. "But the primary goal of our lab really is to have some understanding of how we can rejuvenate the aged muscle to prevent the physical disability that occurs with age, and to increase quality of life in general as well."

MSCs occur naturally in the body and may differentiate into several different cell types. They form part of the stroma, the connective tissue that supports organs and other tissues.

MSCs also excrete growth factors and, according to the new study, stimulate muscle precursor cells, called satellite cells, to expand inside the tissue and contribute to repair following injury. Once present and activated, satellite cells actually fuse to the damaged muscle fibers and form new fibers to reconstruct the muscle and enhance strength.

"Satellite cells are a primary target for the rejuvenation of aged muscle, since activation becomes increasingly impaired and recovery from injury is delayed over the lifespan," Boppart said. "MSC transplantation may provide a viable solution to reawaken the aged satellite cell."

Satellite cells themselves will likely never be used therapeutically to enhance repair or strength in young or aged muscle "because they cause an immune response and rejection within the tissue," Boppart said. But MSCs are "immunoprivileged," meaning that they can be transplanted from one individual to another without sparking an immune response.

"Skeletal muscle is a very complex organ that is highly innervated and vascularized, and unfortunately all of these different tissues become dysfunctional with age," Boppart said. "Therefore, development of an intervention that can heal multiple tissues is ideally required to reverse age-related declines in muscle mass and function. MSCs, because of their ability to repair a variety of different tissue types, are perfectly suited for this task."

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Stem cells aid muscle repair, strengthening after resistance exercise

July 21, 2014

Michigan State University

Not unlike looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, a team of Michigan State University researchers have found a gene that could be key to the development of stem cells cells that can potentially save millions of lives by morphing into practically any cell in the body.

The gene, known as ASF1A, was not discovered by the team. However, it is at least one of the genes responsible for the mechanism of cellular reprogramming, a phenomenon that can turn one cell type into another, which is key to the making of stem cells.

In a paper published in the journal Science, the researchers describe how they analyzed more than 5,000 genes from a human egg, or oocyte, before determining that the ASF1A, along with another gene known as OCT4 and a helper soluble molecule, were the ones responsible for the reprogramming.

This has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the way we look at how stem cells are developed, said Elena Gonzalez-Munoz, a former MSU post-doctoral researcher and first author of the paper. Researchers are just now figuring out how adult somatic cells such as skin cells can be turned into embryonic stem cells. Hopefully this will be the way to understand more about how that mechanism works.

In 2006, an MSU team identified the thousands of genes that reside in the oocyte. It was from those, they concluded, that they could identify the genes responsible for cellular reprogramming.

In 2007, a team of Japanese researchers found that by introducing four other genes into cells, stem cells could be created without the use of a human egg. These cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs.

This is important because the iPSCs are derived directly from adult tissue and can be a perfect genetic match for a patient, said Jose Cibelli, an MSU professor of animal science and a member of the team.

The researchers say that the genes ASF1A and OCT4 work in tandem with a ligand, a hormone-like substance that also is produced in the oocyte called GDF9, to facilitate the reprogramming process.

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Researchers Find Gene That Could Make It Easier To Develop Life-saving Stem Cells

ROCHESTER, MN (KARE/NBC) - Seventy-five years ago, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with the rare, neurological disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at the Mayo Clinic.

On July 4, 1939, he gave his famous farewell speech to baseball fans.

Doctors now have a better understanding of the fatal disease, but apart from medication that may give someone an extra couple of months, there is still no good way to extend someone's life.

Mayo Clinic researchers are working with stem cells to develop a new treatment. A New Brighton woman hopes to benefit.

Linda Leight spends every minute she can with her eight grandchildren. They visit her often at her home.

Time with grandchildren is always precious, but even more so for her because just like baseball legend Gehrig, Leight has ALS.

The disease has slowed her speech.

She has enrolled in a Mayo Clinic study that is testing the safety of taking stem cells and injecting them into a patient's spinal fluid.

"My hope is that I could gain some time," she said.

Read more: http://kare11.tv/1kWk3as

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Stem cells may offer new course of treatment for ALS