Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 16, Issue 8, 2010

Skeletal musculature plays a crucial role in locomotor activity, postural behaviour and breathing, thus the maintenance of a working musculature is fundamental for animal survival: for this reason the mechanisms involved in muscular regeneration processes have been widely investigated. Skeletal muscle can be damaged not only by direct trauma (such as intensive physical activities or lacerations) but also by neurological Read More

Mammalian skeletal muscles can regenerate following injury and this response is mediated by a specific type of stem cell, the satellite cell. We review here the three main phases of muscle regeneration, including i) the initial inflammatory response and the dual role of macrophages as both scavengers involved in the phagocytosis of necrotic debris and promoters of myogenic differentiation, ii) the activation and differentiatio Read More

Until recently, skeletal myoblasts (SkMBs) have been the most widely used cells in basic research and clinical trials of cellbased therapy for cardiac repair and regeneration. Although SkMB engraftment into the postinfarcted heart has been consistently found to improve cardiac contractile function, the underlying therapeutic mechanisms remain still a matter of controversy and debate. This is basically because SkMBs do no Read More

The recent demonstration that, throughout evolution, many molecular mechanisms have been highly conserved is fundamental to the advancement of our knowledge on muscle development and regeneration. Research has provided new insights into genetic cascades governing early steps of embryonic myogenesis and the regeneration of adult muscle in normal and pathological conditions, thus revealing signific Read More

Organisms of the phylum Echinodermata show some of the most impressive regenerative feats within the animal kingdom. Following injury or self-induced autotomy, species in this phylum can regenerate most tissues and organs, being the regeneration of the muscular systems one of the best studied. Even though echinoderms are closely related to chordates, they are little known in the biomedical field, and therefore their use Read More

Stem cells other than satellite cells that can give rise to primary myoblasts, which are able to form additional new fibers postnatally, are present in the interstitial spaces of skeletal muscle. These cells are sorted into CD34+/45- (Sk-34) and CD34-/45- (Sk-DN) cell fractions, and they are wholly (>99%) negative for Pax7 at initial isolation. Colony-forming units of these cells typically include nonadherent type myogenic cells, while Read More

We focused our studies on the leech, Hirudo medicinalis. This invertebrate has a relative anatomical simplicity and is a reliable model for studying a variety of basic events, such as tissue repair, which has a striking similarity with vertebrate responses. Hirudo is also a good invertebrate model to test the actions of drugs and gene products, since the responses evoked by the different stimuli are clear and easily detectable due to th Read More

Muscle degeneration and regeneration are two of the most evident pathological events characterizing muscular diseases and in particular muscular dystrophies. Muscular dystrophies are an heterogeneous group of hereditary diseases affecting both children and adults, and are characterized by muscle wasting and weakness. Until now at least 30 different genes have been associated with muscular dystrophies. They have been di Read More

In little more than a decade, induced exon skipping as a therapy to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) has progressed from a concept tested in vitro, to pre-clinical evaluation in mouse and dog models, and recent completion of Phase I clinical trials in man. There is no longer any doubt that antisense oligomers can redirect dystrophin gene processing and by-pass protein truncating mutations after direct injection i Read More

Type 1 diabetes is characterised by the absence of circulating insulin due to the autoimmune destruction of ß-cells in the pancreas. Patients are traditionally treated with multiple daily injections of exogenous insulin analogues. However, although these therapies improve quality of life, they are associated with the risk of hypoglycemic episodes and do not prevent the development of debilitating secondary complications. For t Read More