Bs. Noble et al., CALCITONIN-GENE-RELATED PEPTIDE STIMULATES DIFFERENTIATION OF NEONATAL RAT MYOGENIC CULTURES, Growth regulation, 3(4), 1993, pp. 245-248
The effect of the nerve derived peptide, calcitonin gene related pepti
de (CGRP) on myoblast fusion/differentiation was studied in rat myogen
ic cell cultures, using creatine kinase activity as an index of fusion
. Addition of CGRP at 10(-7) M to myoblast cultures resulted in an enh
ancement of creatine kinase activity after 11 days of treatment. This
response was not accompanied by increased protein content of cultures
implying an effect primarily on fusion rather than on myotube growth/s
ize. Neither was it a direct effect on enzyme activity alone since no
increase in creatine kinase activity occurred when CGRP was added to m
ature myotube cultures. These data suggest a role for CGRP in the myob
last fusion process itself and raise questions as to its importance in
the growth and development of muscle in vivo.