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Satellite Stem Cells and Muscular Dystrophy01:21

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Satellite stem cells or myosatellite cells are quiescent stem cells that Alexander Mauro first identified in 1961. These cells are located between the sarcolemma, the plasma membrane of muscle fibers, and the basal lamina, the connective tissue sheath covering it. These mononucleated cells are activated in response to muscle injury, can transform into myoblasts, and may form or repair muscle fibers. Myosatellite cells can provide additional myonuclei for muscle regeneration or return to a...
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Every cell in the body maintains a membrane potential due to an uneven distribution of positive and negative charges across its plasma membrane. The membrane potential is measured in millivolts and quantifies the difference in charge across the membrane.
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Skeletal muscle cells, also called muscle fibers, are distinctly elongated, multi-nucleated, slender biological units. They are packed with specialized structures designed to facilitate their primary function, which is contraction.
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The contraction strength of muscles is regulated by motor neurons, which modulate the frequency of action potentials dispatched to the motor units based on the body's requirements. This process of varying the muscle stimulation frequency allows muscles to contract with a force that is precisely tailored to the needs of the moment, whether lifting a feather or a heavy box.
Wave summation
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Skeletal muscle fibers have the unique ability to switch between rest and contraction states, using different sources of ATP for energy. The contraction cycle and Ca2+ transport back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum for relaxation require significant ATP. However, the ATP reserves in muscle fibers are limited and can only sustain contractions for a few seconds. Additional ATP production becomes necessary for prolonged contractions. As a result, muscle fibers generate ATP through various sources,...
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Isolation and Immortalization of Patient-derived Cell Lines from Muscle Biopsy for Disease Modeling
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Muscle-Cell-Based "Living Diodes".

Uryan Isik Can1, Neerajha Nagarajan2, Dervis Can Vural3

  • 1Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.

Advanced Biosystems
|July 11, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel biological diode using muscle and fibroblast cells. This cell-based diode allows unidirectional signal transmission, paving the way for bioelectronic devices.

Keywords:
biocomputingcell patterningdiodesiontronicsmuscle cells

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Area of Science:

  • Biotechnology
  • Cell Biology
  • Bioelectronics

Background:

  • Traditional electronic diodes rely on semiconductor materials.
  • Developing biological components for electronic circuits presents unique challenges.
  • Cellular communication and signal propagation are fundamental biological processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design and fabricate a novel diode entirely from biological cells.
  • To characterize the signal transmission properties of this cell-based diode.
  • To explore the potential of using cellular components in bioelectronic applications.

Main Methods:

  • Fabrication of a rectangular pattern comprising electrically excitable muscle cells and nonexcitable fibroblast cells.
  • Characterization of signal initiation and propagation across the cell types.
  • Electrical stimulation and recording to assess diode functionality.

Main Results:

  • Successfully designed and fabricated a functional biological diode.
  • Demonstrated unidirectional signal transmission from excitable muscle cells to nonexcitable fibroblast cells.
  • Confirmed the diode's ability to block signal propagation in the reverse direction.

Conclusions:

  • A novel cell-based diode exhibiting unidirectional signal transmission has been developed.
  • This study demonstrates the feasibility of creating functional bioelectronic components using cellular materials.
  • The findings open new avenues for research in regenerative medicine and bio-integrated electronics.