Skeletal muscle engraftment potential of adult mouse skin side population cells
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
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Contributed by Louis M. Kunkel, May 26, 2003
Abstract
Adult bone marrow and skeletal muscle have been shown to contain a subpopulation of cells, called side population (SP) cells, that can be isolated with the fluorescence-activated cell sorter. We used a similar method to identify SP cells in the skin of adult mice. These cells express surface markers similar to SP cells isolated from skeletal muscle, but differ from bone marrow SP cells and do not express hematopoietic markers. When transplanted into nonirradiated mdx mice, nuclei from donor skin SP cells are found within myofibers that express dystrophin. Thus, adult skin SP cells can engraft in dystrophic skeletal muscle even in the absence of total body irradiation.
Footnotes
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↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kunkel{at}enders.tch.harvard.edu.
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↵ * K.L. and J.V. contributed equally to this work.
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Abbreviations: SP, side population; MP, main population; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorter; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridization.
- Copyright © 2003, The National Academy of Sciences
