Substrate Elasticity Regulates Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Self-Renewal in Culture

Abstract

Environment Matters: Stem cells isolated from muscle can be used for muscle regeneration, but only if the stem cells are fresh. Under standard cell culture conditions in the laboratory, muscle stem cells fail to proliferate efficiently and lose their regenerative capacity. Gilbert et al. (p. 1078 , published online 15 July; see the Perspective by Bhatia ) built an in vitro–culture system that resembles the physical characteristics in which muscle stem cells normally reside: a squishy elastic bed (rather than the hard slab of a plastic culture flask). Laminin tethered to hydrogels was used to generate substrates of varying elasticity. When cultured on these substrates, muscle stem cells remained undifferentiated and were able to support muscle regeneration when transplanted back into mice.