5-Bromodeoxyuridine: Effect on Myogenesis in vitro

Abstract

Presumptive myoblasts, obtained by treating muscle from 11-day chick embryos with trypsin, multiply in vitro. On the 4th or 5th day in culture they abruptly fuse, form long multinucleated myotubes, and begin to synthesize myosin. Cultured cells exposed to 5-bromodeoxyuridine incorporate this analog of thymidine into their DNA. Cells with such falsified DNA are reversibly inhibited from forming myotubes and synthesizing myosin; such cells, however, continue to synthesize the various species of molecules required for cell multiplication.