Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Generate Muscle Cells and Repair Muscle Degeneration

Dezawa, Mari
Ishikawa, Hiroto
Itokazu, Yutaka
Yoshihara, Tomoyuki
Hoshino, Mikio
Takeda, Shin-ichi
Ide, Chizuka
Nabeshima, Yo-ichi

¹Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, ²Department of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Yoshidakonoecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan. ³Department of Molecular Therapy, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, 187-8502 Tokyo, Japan.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

Supporting Online Material: www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5732/314/DC1; Materials and Methods; Figs. S1 to S7; Tables S1 and S2; References

28 January 2005; accepted 13 May 2005

10.1126/science.1110364

Science 309(5732):p 314-317, July 8, 2005.

Bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) have great potential as therapeutic agents. We report a method for inducing skeletal muscle lineage cells from human and rat general adherent MSCs with an efficiency of 89%. Induced cells differentiated into muscle fibers upon transplantation into degenerated muscles of rats and mdx-nude mice. The induced population contained Pax7-positive cells that contributed to subsequent regeneration of muscle upon repetitive damage without additional transplantation of cells. These MSCs represent a more ready supply of myogenic cells than do the rare myogenic stem cells normally found in muscle and bone marrow.