Retroviral Lineage Markers for Assessing Myoblast Fate In Vivo

Abstract

Using a retroviral marking system, we are monitoring normal muscle development in vivo. In contrast to other reports in this volume in which the fate of myoblasts that were injected into animals was followed, we have followed the fate of the animal’s own myoblasts. Specifically, the question we are asking is: Do satellite cells migrate from one fiber to another? This, of course, is an important consideration in myoblast therapy, since the hope is that the injected myoblasts will be able to migrate and participate in myofiber formation at a distance.