Stem cells might help heal muscle tissue

Israeli scientists studying embryonic muscle development have reported a finding that may lead to new methods for healing muscle tissue using stem cells.

Muscle fibers are large cells that contain many nuclei. They begin, as do all animal cells, as naive embryonic cells that differentiate, producing intermediate cells called myoblasts that are destined to become muscle, the researchers explained.

New myoblasts seek out other myoblasts and fuse to form a large unified cell.

Now a study by Weizmann Institute research student Rada Massarwa, lab technician Shari Carmon, Eyal Schejter and Professor Ben-Zion Shilo has discovered how the cell membranes fuse.

The scientists said their findings might lead to new and advanced methods for healing muscle, specifically fusing stem cells with injured or degenerated muscle fibers.

The study is detailed in the April issue of the journal Developmental Cell.