Figure 4.

Expanded teratoma-derived skeletal myogenic progenitors reconstitute the muscle stem cell pool after transplantation

(A) Immunostaining showing the presence of donor-derived EGFP⁺ PAX7⁺ putative muscle stem cells under the basal lamina in transplanted muscles (representative images from six biological replicates). Scale bar represents 10 μm.

(B) FACS analysis (left) and quantification (right; n = 4–6 biological replicates) of transplanted muscles revealed that the majority of Lin⁻ (CD31⁻ CD45⁻) α7⁺ V⁺ muscle stem cells are also EGFP⁺, i.e., donor derived. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM.

(C) Reisolated α7⁺ V⁺ EGFP⁺ cells (from [B]) from expanded cell-transplanted TA muscles expressed PAX7 (representative images from three biological replicates). Scale bar represents 50 μm.

(D) Reisolated α7⁺ V⁺ EGFP⁺ cells (from [B]) differentiated into multinucleated MHC⁺ myotubes in cultures (representative images from four to six biological replicates). Scale bar represents 200 μm.

α7, α7-integrin; V, VCAM-1.