Isolation and characterization of human fetal myoblasts

Dissociated human fetal skeletal muscle contains myogenic cells, as well as non-myogenic cells such as adipocytes, fibroblasts, and lymphocytes. It is therefore important to determine an efficient and reliable isolation method to obtain a purer population of myoblasts. Toward this end, fluorescence-activated cell sorting in conjunction with robust myogenic cell surface markers can be utilized to enrich for myoblasts in dissociated muscle. In this chapter, we describe a method to significantly enrich for myoblasts using -melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM), which we have determined to be an excellent marker of human fetal myoblasts. The myoblasts resulting from this isolation method can then be expanded in vitro and still retain significant myogenic activity as shown by an in vitro fusion assay. The ability to isolate a highly myogenic population from dissociated muscle facilitates the in vitro study of skeletal muscle development and muscle diseases. Furthermore, robust expansion of these cells will lead to new insights in the development of cell-based therapies for human muscle disorders.