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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

An In Vitro Adult Mouse Muscle-nerve Preparation for Studying the Firing Properties of Muscle Afferents
Published on: September 24, 2014
The Long Road to Making Muscle In Vitro
Olivier Pourquié1, Ziad Al Tanoury1, Jérome Chal1
1Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, MA, United States.
Generating skeletal muscle cells in vitro from pluripotent cells (PC) is challenging. Recent methods activate Wnt signaling to create neuromesodermal progenitors, enabling skeletal muscle development for disease modeling and cell therapy.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Stem Cell Biology
- Muscle Biology
Background:
- Skeletal muscle development originates from embryonic paraxial mesoderm (PM).
- Direct conversion of fibroblasts to muscle using MyoD is established.
- Directed skeletal muscle differentiation from pluripotent cells (PC) in vitro has been difficult.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report recent experimental strategies for in vitro skeletal muscle differentiation from mouse and human pluripotent cells (ES/iPS).
- To enable better understanding of human myogenesis, develop in vitro disease models, and explore cell therapy approaches.
Main Methods:
- Utilized experimental strategies to recapitulate myogenesis in vitro from mouse and human pluripotent cells (ES/iPS).
- Employed early activation of Wnt signaling at the epiblast stage.
- Induced neuromesodermal progenitors which were subsequently directed to a paraxial mesoderm (PM) fate and skeletal muscle.
Main Results:
- Developed protocols that efficiently produce fetal muscle fibers.
- Generated immature satellite cells in vitro.
- Successfully differentiated skeletal muscle from pluripotent cells via neuromesodermal progenitors.
Conclusions:
- Recent advancements have enabled efficient in vitro skeletal muscle differentiation from pluripotent stem cells.
- These novel systems are crucial for studying human myogenesis.
- The findings open avenues for developing in vitro disease models and cell-based therapies for muscle disorders.
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