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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Rodent Model of Masseter Volumetric Muscle Loss for Studying Bioengineering Materials
Published on: May 31, 2024
[The persistence of ontogenic characteristics in the adult masseter muscle]
C Bontemps1, C Cannistrà, P Michel
1Laboratoire d'Histologie Embryologic Cytogénétique, Faculté de Médecine Cochin Port-Royal, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, F-75014 Paris
Abstract:
During embryonic and foetal development, the masseter is formed from two successive generations of muscle fibers in a manner which is very similar to that which has been previously described for other skeletal muscles. This phenotype is characterised by the persistence of ontogenic myosin isoforms (embryonic and foetal myosin heavy chains, embryonic light chain) and by the presence of two distinct populations of fibers: small diameter fibers which coexpress the embryonic, foetal and fast isoforms of the myosin heavy chains but never express the slow isoform; large diameter fibers which express the slow myosin heavy chain either exclusively or in variable associations with the other isoforms. These characteristics of the human masseter muscle probably correspond not only to its embryological origin and its special innervation, but also to the functional constraints to which it is submitted after birth.
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