CULTURING SATELLITE CELLS FROM LIVING SINGLE MUSCLE-FIBER EXPLANTS

Conventional methods for isolating myogenic (satellite) cells are inad equate when only small quantities of muscle, the tissue in which satel lite cells reside, are available. We have developed a tissue culture s ystem that reliably permits isolation of intact, living, single muscle fibers with associated satellite cells from predominantly fast and sl ow muscles of rat and mouse; maintenance of the isolated fibers in vit ro; dissociation, proliferation, and differentiation of satellite cell s from each fiber; and removal of the fiber from culture for analysis.