Muscle satellite cells are a rare regenerative population in adult skeletal muscle and have potential to repair damaged muscle tissue. In this episode, Simone Spuler and colleagues demonstrate that satellite cells can be successfully expanded from human adult muscle biopsies in culture and transplantation of satellite cell–containing human muscle fiber fragments into irradiated mice restores damaged muscle tissue. Isolated muscle fibers could be stored in the cold for a period of time and still retain the ability to engraft and regenerate muscle. Moreover, Spuler and colleagues determined that adult-derived satellite cells could be genetically manipulated with Sleeping Beauty transposon–mediated gene transfer. Together, this study suggests that adult human muscle satellite cells have potential as a gene therapy tool for treating muscular dystrophies.
