Thymic myoid cells share structural and behavioural features with cells of
the skeletal muscle lineage: they express regulatory genes and contractile
proteins, and they can form myofibers in culture. Historically, those featu
res suggested that myoid cells could be precursors for muscle repair in add
ition to the satellite cells in muscle that are typically designated as the
only muscle precursors. Muscles of the mutant mdx dystrophic mouse strain
have a large demand for precursors, which is greatest at a young age. In th
e present study, immunostaining for troponin T was used to localize myoid c
ells. We tested the hypothesis that the myoid cell population changes when
there is a demand for muscle precursors and that these changes would be ant
icipated if myoid cells have a role as myogenic precursors or stem cells in
muscle. Chronic demands for muscle precursors in mdx dystrophic mice were
accompanied by lower myoid cell density in comparison with density in two n
ormal strains (C57BL10/ScSn and Swiss Webster). Acute demand for precursors
was accompanied by a sharp decline in thymic myoid cell density within 2 d
ays after a crush injury to one tibialis anterior muscle in normal but not
dystrophic animals. To standardize the developmental age of the thymus, den
sity was determined in all animals at 28 days of age. Given the current int
erest in nonmuscle sources of myogenic stem cells, these data suggest that
changes in the density of thymic myoid cells may accompany acute and chroni
c demands for muscle precursors. Further experiments are required to determ
ine whether thymic myoid cells are participants in distant muscle cell prol
iferation, new fiber formation, or the establishment of new stem cells in r
egenerated muscle.