Seeing is Believing: Muscleblind-like 1 Is Necessary For Mammalian Cardiomyocyte Maturation

Cardiac muscle, or myocardium, is a specialized type of muscle found exclusively in the heart. Its unique structural and functional characteristics enable the heart to perform its vital role of pumping blood throughout the body continuously and rhythmically. The cardiac muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, possess an endomysium and perimysium but do not have an epimysium.
Compared to skeletal muscles, cardiac muscle cells are small and mostly have a single nucleus. Additionally, they are usually...

De novo myogenesis, or the formation of muscle fibers, begins during the early embryonic stages. The skeletal muscle is formed from somites– blocks of embryonic cell layers. The somites are further divided into dermatomes, myotomes, sclerotomes, and syndetomes. Among these, the myotomes give rise to muscle fibers.
Muscle progenitor cells (MPCs) are formed from the myotomes. MPCs express genes that encode the transcription factors Pax3 and Pax7. Along with Pax 3/7, other transcription...