In Vitro Model of Human Skeletal Muscle Tissue for the Study of Resident Macrophages and Stem Cells
by
, ,
Dandan Hao
1, 
Nils Becker
2,
Eva Mückter
1,
Aline Müller
1,
Miguel Pishnamaz
2,
Leo Cornelis Bollheimer
1,
Frank Hildebrand
2 and
Mahtab Nourbakhsh
1,*
1
Clinic for Geriatric Medicine, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, 52074 Aachen, Germany
2
Clinic for Orthopedics, Trauma, and Reconstructive Surgery, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, 52074 Aachen, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2022, 11(6), 936; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11060936
Submission received: 30 March 2022
/
Revised: 15 June 2022
/
Accepted: 17 June 2022
/
Published: 19 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Experimental Models in Molecular Pharmacology)
Simple Summary
The skeletal muscle of younger adults has a remarkable regenerative capacity, which substantially declines with age. Despite many interspecies differences, animals have been used to study new treatments to promote muscle regeneration in humans. This study reports a novel human experimental model using human skeletal muscle tissue of older adults that was extracted during surgical procedures. We describe an optimal procedure for maintaining human skeletal muscle tissue under experimental conditions for 11 days. This experimental model allows the investigation of resident macrophages and stem cells, which mediate muscle regeneration.
Abstract
Findings from studies of muscle regeneration can significantly contribute to the treatment of age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass, which may predispose older adults to severe morbidities. We established a human experimental model using excised skeletal muscle tissues from reconstructive surgeries in eight older adults. Muscle samples from each participant were preserved immediately or maintained in agarose medium for the following 5, 9, or 11 days. Immunofluorescence analyses of the structural proteins, actin and desmin, confirmed the integrity of muscle fibers over 11 days of maintenance. Similarly, the numbers of CD80-positive M1 and CD163-positive M2 macrophages were stable over 11 days in vitro. However, the numbers of PAX7-positive satellite cells and MYOD-positive myoblasts changed in opposite ways, suggesting that satellite cells partially differentiated in vitro. Further experiments revealed that stimulation with unsaturated fatty acid C18[2]c (linoleic acid) increased resident M1 macrophages and satellite cells specifically. Thus, the use of human skeletal muscle tissue in vitro provides a direct experimental approach to study the regulation of muscle tissue regeneration by macrophages and stem cells and their responses to therapeutic compounds.
Keywords:
human; in vitro model; aging; skeletal muscle; tissue; myofibers; myofibrils; satellite cells; myoblasts; resident macrophages; actin; desmin; immunohistology
