JoVE | Peer Reviewed Scientific Video Journal

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Cutting-edge methods and applications in skeletal muscle research

Guest Editors

Stefano Biressi

University of Trento, Dept. of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), Povo, Trento, 38123 Italy

<p>Stefano Biressi obtained his degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in 2001 from the University of Milan. He received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2006 in the laboratory of Giulio Cossu, where he contributed to the identification of the critical signaling pathways controlling developmental myogenesis and the diversification of embryonic and fetal myogenic progenitors. Dr. Biressi extends his work in adult and pathological regeneration during his postdoc in the laboratory of Thomas Rando at Stanford University. Dr. Biressi is now the group leader of the Laboratory of Stem cells and Regenerative Medicine and an Associate Professor in Molecular Biology at the University of Trento. The scientific interests of his laboratory are centered on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the behavior of stem cells. Critically, different pathophysiological conditions have investigated stem cell dynamics, including muscular dystrophies, and aging.</p>

Addolorata Pisconti

Stony Brook University, Dept. of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, United States

<p>Dada Pisconti was born and raised in Italy, where she completed her PhD in Cell Biology. After a short postdoc experience at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, she worked with Brad Olwin at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied the molecular mechanisms involved in muscle stem cell communication with their niche. In 2012 she moved to the University of Liverpool in the UK. She started her lab, continuing her work on muscle stem cell-niche communication and how such mechanisms regulate muscle stem cell transcriptional activity. Additionally, in Liverpool, Dr., Pisconti became interested in investigating the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy. In 2018, the Pisconti lab moved to Stony Brook State University of New York. The work has further expanded into developing treatments for muscular dystrophy and investigating the pathogenic role of muscle (in)activity in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.</p>

Collection Overview

This collection welcomes articles that are visually describing techniques applicable to skeletal muscle research with the goal to diffuse their use across laboratories. This call is directed to researchers that have developed or refined methodologies relevant to muscle biology, such as surgical procedures, in vivo or in vitro imaging, injury protocols, force measures, behavioral studies, and cellular, molecular, and biochemical analyses.

Skeletal muscle is a multifunctional tissue that is formed during development by the fusion of myogenic progenitors into muscle fibers, the contractile cellular units. A complex network of cellular and molecular interactions is guaranteeing proper connection with the nervous, skeletal, and vascular system. Muscles are highly heterogeneous in terms of anatomical location, function, biochemical and mechanical properties. They display high plasticity under a series of stimuli modulating fiber anabolic and catabolic events. Loss of skeletal muscle strength and mass is associated with neuromuscular genetic pathologies, aging (sarcopenia), cancer (cachexia), and a variety of conditions that are primarily affecting different tissues or have a systemic origin (i.e., skeletal, and articular injuries, denervation, starvation, sepsis, burns, diabetes, heart failure, chronic liver and kidney diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). A concerted chain of events involving various cell types, including muscle stem cells, other muscle-resident cells, and cells infiltrating from the circulation, are contributing to skeletal muscle plasticity, and are governing regeneration.

The investigation of these events requires the use of refined methods and cutting-edge techniques. Standardized methodological approaches will be a must to ensure reproducibility of the results across laboratories.