There are 3 different types of muscle: skeletal, cardiac and smooth. This page describes skeletal muscle development, descriptions of cardiac muscle and smooth muscle development can be found in other notes. (More? Cardiac or GIT Development)
Skeletal muscle forms by fusion of mononucleated myoblasts to form mutinucleated myotubes.
Differentiation/determination of mesoderm into muscle cells is thought to involve a family of basic Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factors, the first of which discovered was MyoD1. (see OMIM entry). It needs to form a dimer to be active and is maintained in an inactive state by binding of Id (see OMIM entry).
Stage10 Stage 11
Page Links: Introduction | Some Recent Findings | Muscle | Myotome | Histology | References | Glossary | Development Terms
Satellite cells - Day K, Shefer G, Richardson JB, Enikolopov G, Yablonka-Reuveni Z. Nestin-GFP reporter expression defines the quiescent state of skeletal muscle satellite cells. Dev Biol. 2006 Dec 15;
"Repair of adult skeletal muscle depends on satellite cells, quiescent myogenic stem cells located beneath the myofiber basal lamina. ...Mutual and unique gene expression by NES-GFP(+) cells from hindlimb and diaphragm muscles demonstrated intra- and inter-muscular heterogeneity of satellite cells."
Gros J, Manceau M, Thome V, Marcelle C. A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells. Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):954-8. (More? Dermomyotome | Supplementary Videos)
"...show that the dorsal compartment of the somite, the dermomyotome, is the origin of a population of muscle progenitors that contribute to the growth of trunk muscles during embryonic and fetal life. Furthermore, long-term lineage analyses indicate that satellite cells, which are known progenitors of adult skeletal muscles, derive from the same dermomyotome cell population."
The EMT of the dermomyotome triggers the emergence of a BrdU-positive cell population in the myotome.
(Image reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Gros J, Manceau M, Thome V, Marcelle C. A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells. Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):954-8. copyright 2005)
Direct translocation of dermomyotome cells into the primary myotome.
(Image reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Gros J, Manceau M, Thome V, Marcelle C. A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells. Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):954-8. copyright 2005)
The first key to understanding muscle development came from the discovery of a gene that when introduced into fibroblast cells was able to transform them into muscle. This gene was designated myogenic determining factor number one (MyoD1). MyoD1 is a basic-helix loop helix transcription factor that binds DNA as a heterodimer. (More? see factors- MyoD)
Subsequently a family of muscle "determining" factors have been identified and the issue of determination versus differentiation were initially contentious issues. The links below are to OMIM entries for specific factors.
In both development and the adult, the group of skeletal muscles supplied by a specific segmental spinal nerve is referred to as a myotome. The muscle arises from a specific somite and the spinal nerve arises from a specific level of the spinal cord (identified by veretebral column).
In humans this corresponds to the following spinal nerves (from top to bottom) and muscular functions:
Links to related WWW sites with Histological
images for Skeleton/ Muscle/ Connective Tissue
system.
Note that all internet links change with time if
link does not work use text shown to search WWW.
(Also see All
systems)
Note - See also other specific musculoskeletal notes pages: References | Abnormalities | Somite | Limb | Axial Skeleton | Skull | Bone | Human Bone | Skeletal Muscle | Molecular
Reviews
Relaix F. Skeletal muscle progenitor cells: from embryo to adult. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2006 Jun;63(11):1221-5.
Sinanan AC, Buxton PG, Lewis MP. Muscling in on stem cells. Biol Cell. 2006 Apr;98(4):203-14.
Huh MS, Smid JK, Rudnicki MA. Muscle function and dysfunction in health and disease. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. 2005 Sep;75(3):180-92.
Hollway G, Currie P. Vertebrate myotome development. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. 2005 Sep;75(3):172-9.
Brand-Saberi B. Genetic and epigenetic control of skeletal muscle development. Ann Anat. 2005 Jul;187(3):199-207.
Articles
Bhattacherjee V, Mukhopadhyay P, Singh S, Johnson C, Philipose JT, Warner CP, Greene RM, Pisano MM. Neural crest and mesoderm lineage-dependent gene expression in orofacial development. Differentiation. 2007 Feb 5;
Day K, Shefer G, Richardson JB, Enikolopov G, Yablonka-Reuveni Z. Nestin-GFP reporter expression defines the quiescent state of skeletal muscle satellite cells. Dev Biol. 2006 Dec 15;
Relaix F, Rocancourt D, Mansouri A, Buckingham M. A Pax3/Pax7-dependent population of skeletal muscle progenitor cells. Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):948-53.
Gros J, Manceau M, Thome V, Marcelle C. A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells. Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):954-8.
Search PubMed: Feb 2007 "embryo skeletal muscle development" 1,388 reference articles of which 113 were reviews.
Search PubMed Now: embryo skeletal muscle development | musculoskeletal development | mesoderm development
(More? PubMed- Medline)
Selected Lists of References from PubMed March 1999 search results are available for Department of Anatomy computers without internet access: Somite Reviews | Somitogenesis Abstracts | Mesoderm Review List
Computers with internet access can search from either Below or directly from PubMed Internet Access
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This page introduces the development of skeletal muscle which is derived mainly from mesoderm initially differentiating into myogenic precursor cells. Note that while teh differentiation program is the same there are many different anatomical locations for muscle (head, trunk and limbs).
The mesoderm forms nearly all the connective tissues of the musculoskeletal system. Each tissue (cartilage, bone, and muscle) goes through many different mechanisms of differentiation.
These note therefore have many different pages covering each of tissue, as well as information about limb development. Use the left hand menu to go to a specific topic of interest.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.
