Skeletal Muscle Microbiopsies in Children and Adults-Tolerability, Sample Yield, and Analyzability

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Skeletal muscle physiology
• Molecular biology

Background:

• Traditional skeletal muscle biopsies are invasive and can cause significant discomfort.
• Minimally invasive sampling methods are needed for pediatric and adult research.
• Assessing RNA expression requires adequate tissue yield and quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a sub-millimeter core-biopsy (microbiopsy) for skeletal muscle tissue sampling.
• To assess the tolerability, tissue yield, and RNA expression analyzability of microbiopsies.
• To compare microbiopsy pain levels with venipuncture and traditional Bergström biopsies.

Main Methods:

• Recruited children (9-13 years) and adults (18-50 years).
• Performed microbiopsy and venipuncture with local anesthesia cream; adults also underwent Bergström biopsy.
• Rated pain using the visual analog scale (VAS); analyzed RNA sequencing performance across a tissue weight ladder (10-500 μg).

Main Results:

• Microbiopsies were rated as minimally painful in both children and adults, significantly less so than Bergström biopsies.
• Children and adults reported similar pain levels for microbiopsies.
• Microbiopsies yielded an average of 303 μg of tissue, sufficient for detecting transcriptomic signatures via RNA sequencing.

Conclusions:

• Microbiopsy is a tolerable and effective method for skeletal muscle sampling in pediatric and adult populations.
• It offers a less painful alternative to Bergström biopsies.
• The technique provides adequate tissue for robust RNA expression analysis.