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Genome Medicine Nov 2023Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), a severe manifestation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), is associated with a 1-year limb amputation rate of approximately...
BACKGROUND
Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), a severe manifestation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), is associated with a 1-year limb amputation rate of approximately 15-20% and substantial mortality. A key feature of CLTI is the compromised regenerative ability of skeletal muscle; however, the mechanisms responsible for this impairment are not yet fully understood. In this study, we aim to delineate pathological changes at both the cellular and transcriptomic levels, as well as in cell-cell signaling pathways, associated with compromised muscle regeneration in limb ischemia in both human tissue samples and murine models of CLTI.
METHODS
We performed single-cell transcriptome analysis of ischemic and non-ischemic muscle from the same CLTI patients and from a murine model of CLTI. In both datasets, we analyzed gene expression changes in macrophage and muscle satellite cell (MuSC) populations as well as differential cell-cell signaling interactions and differentiation trajectories.
RESULTS
Single-cell transcriptomic profiling and immunofluorescence analysis of CLTI patient skeletal muscle demonstrated that ischemic-damaged tissue displays a pro-inflammatory macrophage signature. Comparable results were observed in a murine CLTI model. Moreover, integrated analyses of both human and murine datasets revealed premature differentiation of MuSCs to be a key feature of failed muscle regeneration in the ischemic limb. Furthermore, in silico inferences of intercellular communication and in vitro assays highlight the importance of macrophage-MuSC signaling in ischemia induced muscle injuries.
CONCLUSIONS
Collectively, our research provides the first single-cell transcriptome atlases of skeletal muscle from CLTI patients and a murine CLTI model, emphasizing the crucial role of macrophages and inflammation in regulating muscle regeneration in CLTI through interactions with MuSCs.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Mice; Satellite Cells, Skeletal Muscle; Muscle, Skeletal; Ischemia; Cell Differentiation; Regeneration; Macrophages; Risk Factors; Treatment Outcome; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 37950327
DOI: 10.1186/s13073-023-01250-y -
Current Topics in Developmental Biology 2024The proper functioning of skeletal muscles is essential throughout life. A crucial crosstalk between the environment and several cellular mechanisms allows striated... (Review)
Review
The proper functioning of skeletal muscles is essential throughout life. A crucial crosstalk between the environment and several cellular mechanisms allows striated muscles to perform successfully. Notably, the skeletal muscle tissue reacts to an injury producing a completely functioning tissue. The muscle's robust regenerative capacity relies on the fine coordination between muscle stem cells (MuSCs or "satellite cells") and their specific microenvironment that dictates stem cells' activation, differentiation, and self-renewal. Critical for the muscle stem cell pool is a fine regulation of chromatin organization and gene expression. Acquiring a lineage-specific 3D genome architecture constitutes a crucial modulator of muscle stem cell function during development, in the adult stage, in physiological and pathological conditions. The context-dependent relationship between genome structure, such as accessibility and chromatin compartmentalization, and their functional effects will be analysed considering the improved 3D epigenome knowledge, underlining the intimate liaison between environmental encounters and epigenetics.
Topics: Chromatin; Animals; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal; Cell Differentiation; Stem Cells; Epigenesis, Genetic; Muscle Development; Satellite Cells, Skeletal Muscle
PubMed: 38670713
DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2024.01.014 -
Biology Direct Jul 2023Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML), resulting from severe trauma or surgical ablation, is a pathological condition preventing myofibers regeneration, since skeletal muscle...
BACKGROUND
Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML), resulting from severe trauma or surgical ablation, is a pathological condition preventing myofibers regeneration, since skeletal muscle owns the remarkable ability to restore tissue damage, but only when limited in size. The current surgical therapies employed in the treatment of this pathology, which particularly affects military personnel, do not yet provide satisfactory results. For this reason, more innovative approaches must be sought, specifically skeletal muscle tissue engineering seems to highlight promising results obtained from preclinical studies in VML mouse model. Despite the great results obtained in rodents, translation into human needs a comparable animal model in terms of size, in order to validate the efficacy of the tissue engineering approach reconstructing larger muscle mass (human-like). In this work we aim to demonstrate the validity of a porcine model, that has underwent a surgical ablation of a large muscle area, as a VML damage model.
RESULTS
For this purpose, morphological, ultrasound, histological and fluorescence analyses were carried out on the scar tissue formed following the surgical ablation of the peroneus tertius muscle of Sus scrofa domesticus commonly called mini-pig. In particular, the replenishment of the damaged area, the macrophage infiltration and the vascularization at different time-points were evaluated up to the harvesting of the scar upon six months.
CONCLUSION
Here we demonstrated that following VML damage, there is an extremely poor regenerative process in the swine muscle tissue, while the formation of fibrotic, scar tissue occurs. The analyses performed up to 180 days after the injury revealed the development of a stable, structured and cellularized tissue, provided with vessels and extracellular matrix acquiring the status of granulation tissue like in human.
Topics: Humans; Mice; Animals; Swine; Cicatrix; Longitudinal Studies; Swine, Miniature; Muscle, Skeletal; Muscular Diseases
PubMed: 37518063
DOI: 10.1186/s13062-023-00399-1 -
Journal of Cellular Physiology Sep 2023Starch-binding domain-containing protein 1 (STBD1) is a glycogen-binding protein discovered in skeletal muscle gene differential expression that is pivotal to cellular... (Review)
Review
Starch-binding domain-containing protein 1 (STBD1) is a glycogen-binding protein discovered in skeletal muscle gene differential expression that is pivotal to cellular energy metabolism. Recent studies have indicated that STBD1 is involved in many physiological processes, such as glycophagy, glycogen accumulation, and lipid droplet formation. Moreover, dysregulation of STBD1 causes multiple diseases, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and even cancer. Deletions and/or mutations in STBD1 promote tumorigenesis. Therefore, STBD1 has garnered considerable interest in the pathology community. In this review, we first summarized the current understanding of STBD1, including its structure, subcellular localization, tissue distribution, and biological functions. Next, we examined the roles and molecular mechanisms of STBD1 in related diseases. Based on available research, we discussed the novel function and future of STBD1, including its potential application as a therapeutic target in glycogen-related diseases. Given the significance of STBD1 in energy metabolism, an in-depth understanding of the protein is crucial for understanding physiological processes and developing therapeutic strategies for related diseases.
Topics: Glycogen; Membrane Proteins; Muscle, Skeletal; Mutation; Humans; Animals; Muscle Proteins
PubMed: 37435888
DOI: 10.1002/jcp.31078 -
Journal of Applied Physiology... Oct 2023Nearly 40% of Americans have obesity and are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Skeletal muscle is responsible for >80% of insulin-stimulated glucose...
Nearly 40% of Americans have obesity and are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Skeletal muscle is responsible for >80% of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake that is attenuated by the inflammatory milieu of obesity and augmented by aerobic exercise. The receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) is an inflammatory receptor directly linking metabolic dysfunction with inflammation. Circulating soluble isoforms of RAGE (sRAGE) formed either by proteolytic cleavage (cRAGE) or alternative splicing (esRAGE) act as decoys for RAGE ligands, thereby counteracting RAGE-mediated inflammation. We aimed to determine if RAGE expression or alternative splicing of RAGE is altered by obesity in muscle, and whether acute aerobic exercise (AE) modifies RAGE and sRAGE. Young (20-34 yr) participants without [ = 17; body mass index (BMI): 22.6 ± 2.6 kg/m] and with obesity ( = 7; BMI: 32.8 ± 2.9 kg/m) performed acute aerobic exercise (AE) at 40%, 65%, or 80% of maximal aerobic capacity (V̇o; mL/kg/min) on separate visits. Blood was taken before and 30 min after each AE bout. Muscle biopsy samples were taken before, 30 min, and 3 h after the 80% V̇o AE bout. Individuals with obesity had higher total RAGE and esRAGE mRNA and RAGE protein ( < 0.0001). In addition, RAGE and esRAGE transcripts correlated to transcripts of the NF-κB subunit P65 ( < 0.05). There was no effect of AE on total RAGE or esRAGE transcripts, or RAGE protein ( > 0.05), and AE tended to decrease circulating sRAGE in particular at lower intensities of exercise. RAGE expression is exacerbated in skeletal muscle with obesity, which may contribute to muscle inflammation via NF-κB. Future work should investigate the consequences of increased skeletal muscle RAGE on the development of obesity-related metabolic dysfunction and potential mitigating strategies. This study is the first to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise intensity on circulating sRAGE isoforms, muscle RAGE protein, and muscle RAGE splicing. sRAGE isoforms tended to diminish with exercise, although this effect was attenuated with increasing exercise intensity. Muscle RAGE protein and gene expression were unaffected by exercise. However, individuals with obesity displayed nearly twofold higher muscle RAGE protein and gene expression, which positively correlated with expression of the P65 subunit of NF-κB.
Topics: Humans; Young Adult; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Exercise; Inflammation; Muscle, Skeletal; NF-kappa B; Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products
PubMed: 37675469
DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00748.2022 -
Cryopreservation Alters Tissue Structure and Improves Differentiation of Engineered Skeletal Muscle.Tissue Engineering. Part A Nov 2023Tissue-engineered skeletal muscle can play an important role in regenerative medicine, disease modeling, drug testing, as well as the actuation of biohybrid machines. As...
Tissue-engineered skeletal muscle can play an important role in regenerative medicine, disease modeling, drug testing, as well as the actuation of biohybrid machines. As the applications of engineered muscle tissues expand, there exists a growing need to cryopreserve and store these tissues without impairing function. In a previous study, we developed a cryopreservation protocol in which engineered skeletal muscle tissues are frozen before myogenic differentiation. In that study, we found that this cryopreservation process led to a three-fold increase in the force generation of the differentiated muscle. Here, we perform further testing to determine the mechanisms by which cryopreservation enhances engineered skeletal muscle function. We found that cryopreservation alters the microstructure of the tissue by increasing pore size and decreasing elastic modulus of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which leads to increased expression of genes related to cell migration, cell-matrix adhesion, ECM secretion, and protease activity. Specifically, cryopreservation leads to the upregulation of many ECM proteins, including laminin, fibronectin, and several types of collagens, as well as integrins and matrix metalloproteinases. These changes to ECM structure and composition were associated with enhanced myogenic differentiation, as evidenced by the upregulation of late-stage myogenic markers and increased force generation. These results highlight the need to understand the effects of cryopreservation on the ECM of other tissues as we strive to advance tissue and organ cryopreservation protocols for regenerative medicine.
Topics: Extracellular Matrix; Muscle, Skeletal; Cryopreservation; Laminin; Freezing; Tissue Engineering
PubMed: 37463097
DOI: 10.1089/ten.TEA.2023.0075 -
Stem Cell Reports Oct 2023Skeletal muscle research is transitioning toward 3D tissue engineered in vitro models reproducing muscle's native architecture and supporting measurement of...
Skeletal muscle research is transitioning toward 3D tissue engineered in vitro models reproducing muscle's native architecture and supporting measurement of functionality. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) offer high yields of cells for differentiation. It has been difficult to differentiate high-quality, pure 3D muscle tissues from hiPSCs that show contractile properties comparable to primary myoblast-derived tissues. Here, we present a transgene-free method for the generation of purified, expandable myogenic progenitors (MPs) from hiPSCs grown under feeder-free conditions. We defined a protocol with optimal hydrogel and medium conditions that allowed production of highly contractile 3D tissue engineered skeletal muscles with forces similar to primary myoblast-derived tissues. Gene expression and proteomic analysis between hiPSC-derived and primary myoblast-derived 3D tissues revealed a similar expression profile of proteins involved in myogenic differentiation and sarcomere function. The protocol should be generally applicable for the study of personalized human skeletal muscle tissue in health and disease.
Topics: Humans; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Proteomics; Cells, Cultured; Muscle, Skeletal; Tissue Engineering; Myoblasts; Cell Differentiation
PubMed: 37774701
DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.08.014 -
Steroids Nov 2023Androgens are a class of steroid hormones primarily associated with male sexual development and physiology, but exert pleiotropic effects in either sex. They have a... (Review)
Review
Androgens are a class of steroid hormones primarily associated with male sexual development and physiology, but exert pleiotropic effects in either sex. They have a crucial role in various physiological processes, including the regulation of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue homeostasis. The effects of androgens are mainly mediated through the androgen receptor (AR), a ligand-activated nuclear receptor expressed in both tissues. In skeletal muscle, androgens via AR exert a multitude of effects, ranging from increased muscle mass and strength, to the regulation of muscle fiber type composition, contraction and metabolic functions. In adipose tissue, androgens influence several processes including proliferation, fat distribution, and metabolism but they display depot-specific and organism-specific effects which differ in certain context. This review further explores the potential mechanisms underlying androgen-AR signaling in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Understanding the roles of androgens and their receptor in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue is essential for elucidating their contributions to physiological processes, disease conditions, and potential therapeutic interventions.
Topics: Male; Humans; Androgens; Receptors, Androgen; Adipose Tissue; Muscle, Skeletal; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 37634653
DOI: 10.1016/j.steroids.2023.109306 -
Nature Communications Jul 2023Skeletal muscle is more resilient to ischemia-reperfusion injury than other organs. Tissue specific post-translational modifications of cytochrome c (Cytc) are involved...
Skeletal muscle is more resilient to ischemia-reperfusion injury than other organs. Tissue specific post-translational modifications of cytochrome c (Cytc) are involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury by regulating mitochondrial respiration and apoptosis. Here, we describe an acetylation site of Cytc, lysine 39 (K39), which was mapped in ischemic porcine skeletal muscle and removed by sirtuin5 in vitro. Using purified protein and cellular double knockout models, we show that K39 acetylation and acetylmimetic K39Q replacement increases cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity and ROS scavenging while inhibiting apoptosis via decreased binding to Apaf-1, caspase cleavage and activity, and cardiolipin peroxidase activity. These results are discussed with X-ray crystallography structures of K39 acetylated (1.50 Å) and acetylmimetic K39Q Cytc (1.36 Å) and NMR dynamics. We propose that K39 acetylation is an adaptive response that controls electron transport chain flux, allowing skeletal muscle to meet heightened energy demand while simultaneously providing the tissue with robust resilience to ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Topics: Animals; Swine; Lysine; Cytochromes c; Phosphorylation; Acetylation; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Apoptosis; Cell Respiration; Reperfusion Injury; Muscle, Skeletal
PubMed: 37443314
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39820-8 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2024Body composition has recently been attracting people's attention, not only from a cosmetic standpoint but also from the perspective of health and longevity. The body is... (Review)
Review
Body composition has recently been attracting people's attention, not only from a cosmetic standpoint but also from the perspective of health and longevity. The body is classified into three components: fat, bone, and lean soft tissue, and it is common to see an increase in body fat and a decrease in total body muscle mass with aging. Aging-related loss of muscle mass and muscle function is referred to as primary sarcopenia, while sarcopenia caused by disease-specific conditions is referred to as secondary sarcopenia. On the other hand, the liver-muscle axis has been attracting attention in recent years, and it has become clear that the liver and the skeletal muscles interact with each other. In particular, patients with cirrhosis are prone to secondary sarcopenia due to protein-energy malnutrition, which is a characteristic pathophysiology of the disease, suggesting the importance of the organ-organ network. In this review, we would like to outline the latest findings in this field, with a focus on body composition in liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis, fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Topics: Humans; Sarcopenia; Body Composition; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic; Muscle, Skeletal; Liver Neoplasms
PubMed: 38256036
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25020964