Muscle Cell News Volume 3.06 | Feb 26 2018

TOP STORY

UCLA Scientists Use Color-Coded Tags to Discover How Heart Cells Develop

Researchers used fluorescent colored proteins to trace how cardiomyocytes are produced in mouse embryos. The findings could eventually lead to methods for regenerating heart tissue in human adults. [Press release from UCLA discussing online prepublication in Nature Communications] Press Release | Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

CARDIAC MUSCLE CELLS

Myocardial Polyploidization Creates a Barrier to Heart Regeneration in Zebrafish

Using a transgenic strategy, researchers generated adult animals containing mosaic hearts composed of differentially labeled diploid and polyploid-enriched cardiomyocyte populations. Diploid cardiomyocytes outcompeted their polyploid neighbors in producing regenerated heart muscle. [Dev Cell] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Exosome-Mediated Benefits of Cell Therapy in Mouse and Human Models of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

The authors report that clinical-stage cardiac progenitor cells, known as cardiosphere-derived cells, improve cardiac and skeletal myopathy in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Press Release 1 | Press Release 2 | Graphical Abstract

Modulation of Cardiac Stem Cell Characteristics by Metoprolol in Hypertensive Heart Disease

Cardiac stem cells were isolated from the atrial tissue, and the effect of metoprolol on stem cell migration, proliferation, differentiation, and survival was evaluated by comparing the treated spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) with untreated SHRs and normotensive Wistar rats. [Hypertens Res] Abstract

SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS

Treg Cells Limit IFN-γ Production to Control Macrophage Accrual and Phenotype during Skeletal Muscle Regeneration

Researchers uncovered an IFN-γ–centered regulatory layer by which Treg cells keep macrophages in check and dampen inflammation during regeneration of skeletal muscle. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

Cry2 Is Critical for Circadian Regulation of Myogenic Differentiation by Bclaf1-Mediated mRNA Stabilization of Cyclin D1 and Tmem176b

Investigators found that one of the core regulators of circadian rhythms, Cry2, but not Cry1, is critical for the circadian patterns of two critical steps in myogenic differentiation. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Loss of MyoD and Myf5 in Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells Results in Altered Myogenic Programming and Failed Regeneration

Scientists showed that satellite cells lacking both MyoD and Myf5 (double knockout [dKO]) are maintained with aging in uninjured muscle. However, injured muscle failed to regenerate and dKO satellite cell progeny accumulate in damaged muscle but do not undergo muscle differentiation. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS

Granzyme B Deficiency Promotes Osteoblastic Differentiation and Calcification of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension

The authors report that pulmonary vascular medial calcification is elevated in pulmonary artery hypertension models as a result of an osteoblastic phenotype change of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells induced by hypoxia. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Activation of AMPK Inhibits TGF-β1-Induced Airway Smooth Muscle Cells Proliferation and Its Potential Mechanisms

Researchers examined signaling mechanisms underlying transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)-induced airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) proliferation and to determine the effect of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation on TGF-β1-induced ASMCs proliferation and its potential mechanisms. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Polygonum aviculare L. Extract and Quercetin Attenuate Contraction in Airway Smooth Muscle

Scientists screened several herbs and found that Polygonum aviculare L. contains ingredients that inhibit the precontraction of mouse and human airway smooth muscle. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Humanizing the mdx Mouse Model of DMD: The Long and the Short of It

The authors summarize the usefulness of the various commonly used Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) mouse models, highlight a model with shortened telomeres like humans, and identify directions that warrant further investigation. [NPJ Regen Med] Full Article

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the muscle cell research field.

Clinigen and Santhera Launch US Expanded Access Program with Idebenone for Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Clinigen Group plc has initiated an Expanded Access Program in the US with Santhera Pharmaceuticals for idebenone in patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophywho are in respiratory decline. [Clinigen Group plc] Press Release

Dorrington Award Recognizes Graduate Research in Bioengineering, Genome Mapping and Transplantation

A tissue engineer and tennis enthusiast, Afshar grows mini muscles in the dish that allow him to study how muscles form and work at a level of detail previously impossible. [University of Toronto] Press Release

Florida Residents Could Soon Get the Power to Alter Science Classes

Policymakers in the United States are pushing to give the public more power to influence what educators teach students. Florida’s legislature started considering two related bills that, if enacted, would let residents recommend which instructional materials teachers in their school district use in their classrooms. [Nature News] Editorial

National Science Foundation to Close Its Overseas Offices

A plan by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to close its overseas offices, first reported on the Science | Business website, is getting mixed reviews in the scientific community. The NSF announced it would shutter its outposts in Beijing, Brussels, and Tokyo by summer; two U.S. staff will return to the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and local staff will be reassigned to U.S. embassies. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

One of the Most Powerful Science Policy Jobs in Brussels Changes Hands

It’s the end of an era at the European Commission’s research department: The most powerful civil servant in Brussels’s science policy circles, Director-General for Research and Innovation Robert-Jan Smits, is leaving his post. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Gordon Research Conferences: Notch Signaling in Development, Regeneration and Disease
July 22-27, 2018
Lewiston, Maine, United States

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Postdoctoral Position – Stem Cell Biology (University of California, Los Angeles)

NEW Fellowship – Cardio-Biology (Johns Hopkins University)

Postdoctoral Associate – Bioengineering (University of Pittsburgh)

Postdoctoral Fellow & Assistant Research Scientist Positions – Cardiovascular Physiology (University of Arizona College of Medicine)

Principal Investigator – Cardiology (Boston Children’s Hospital)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Cardiac Morphogenesis (The University of Queensland)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Cell-Based Cardiac Regeneration (Karolinska Institutet)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Metabolic Regulation (Harvard University)

Research Fellow – Rhabdomyosarcoma (Massachusetts General Hospital)

Faculty Position – Translational Research in Cardiac Biology (Temple University)

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