If muscle cells don't divide, how can muscles repair themselves?
1 Answer
Myosatellite cells play an important role during skeletal muscle repair after injury.
Explanation:
When muscle cells undergo injury, quiescent satellite cells are released from beneath the basement membrane. Following injury or in response to increased functional demands or the need for routine maintenance, satellite cells are activated, proliferate and differentiate to give rise to myoblasts. Myoblasts then fuse with each other to form multinucleate myotubules, which give rise to adult muscle cells. They also re establish a residual pool of quiescent satellite cells that are able to support additional rounds of regeneration.
This process of muscle regeneration involves remodelling of extra cellular matrix. Satellite cells proliferate following muscle trauma and form new myofibrils through a process similar to fetal muscle development.
