Neuronal Agrin Promotes Proliferation of Primary Human Myoblasts in an Age-Dependent Manner

Neuronal agrin, a heparan sulphate proteoglycan secreted by the α-motor neurons, promotes the formation and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction by binding to Lrp4 and activating muscle-specific kinase (MuSK). Neuronal agrin also promotes myogenesis by enhancing differentiation and maturation of myotubes, but its effect on proliferating human myoblasts, which are often considered to be unresponsive to agrin, remains unclear. Using primary human myoblasts, we determined that neuronal agrin induced transient dephosphorylation of ERK1/2, while c-Abl, STAT3, and focal adhesion kinase were unresponsive. Gene silencing of Lrp4 and MuSK markedly reduced the BrdU incorporation, suggesting the functional importance of the Lrp4/MuSK complex for myoblast proliferation. Acute and chronic treatments with neuronal agrin increased the proliferation of human myoblasts in old donors, but they did not affect the proliferation of myoblasts in young donors. The C-terminal fragment of agrin which lacks the Lrp4-binding site and cannot activate MuSK had a similar age-dependent effect, indicating that the age-dependent signalling pathways activated by neuronal agrin involve the Lrp4/MuSK receptor complex as well as an Lrp4/MuSK-independent pathway which remained unknown. Collectively, our results highlight an age-dependent role for neuronal agrin in promoting the proliferation of human myoblasts.