A POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY FOR MYOBLAST TRANSFER THERAPY - THE USE OF SLICED MUSCLE GRAFTS

Excellent long-term survival (up to 1 yr) of donor skeletal muscle cel ls was demonstrated using a mouse Y-chromosome specific probe, followi ng the transplantation of grafts of whole muscles from male ''normal'' C57BI/10Sn mice into dystrophic muscles of female host mice. After th e transplantation of equivalent sliced muscle grafts there was extensi ve movement of the male donor cells and fusion with host myofibres. Th is contrasts with the extremely poor survival of isolated myoblasts af ter injection into the same mouse model for Duchenne muscular dystroph y. The use of sliced muscle grafts may therefore represent a potential alternative approach to myoblast transfer therapy.