In vitro characterization of goat skeletal muscle satellite cells

Skeletal muscle satellite cells (SMSCs) provide a good model for the study of postnatal muscle growth and intramuscular adipogenesis because they have myogenic and adipogenic differentiation ability. In this study, we harvested goat SMSCs using pronase digestion method. Then, the cells were purified from stratified liquids between 40 and 90% percoll. Multinucleated myotubes formed and the myogenic genes were expressed during the myogenic differentiation. PAX7 showed the highest expression level on the proliferating phase and decreased during differentiation. On the proliferating stage, the expression level of MyoG and MEF2C was relatively low. After entering the differentiation stage, the expression of MyoD, MyoG, and MEF2C was increased, and then decline subsequently. During adipogenic differentiation, a lot of lipid droplets were present around the cells at 7 d, and the adipogenic-related genes were expressed. The ADIPOQ, PPARγ and SREBP-1 expression levels were up-regulated during adipogenic differentiation, while the expression of ACC, FASN and C/EBPα were increased at 4 d, and then declined at 7 d. This study established a successful system for isolation, purification and identification of goat SMSCs. It is demonstrated that goat skeletal satellite cells are multipotential and can be induced into myoblasts and adipocytes.