Organoid Culture Promotes Dedifferentiation of Mouse Myoblasts into Stem Cells Capable of Complete Muscle Regeneration

Experimental cell therapies for skeletal muscle conditions have shown little success, primarily because they used committed myogenic progenitors rather than true muscle stem cells, known as satellite cells. Here we present a method to generate in vitro–derived satellite cells (idSCs) from skeletal muscle tissue. When transplanted in small numbers into mouse muscle, mouse idSCs fuse into myofibers, repopulate the satellite cell niche, self-renew, support multiple rounds of muscle regeneration, and improve force production on par with freshly isolated satellite cells. in damaged skeletal muscle. We profiled the epigenomic and transcriptional differences between idSCs and satellite cells, and used these differences to identify core signaling pathways and genes that confer idSC functionality. Finally, fromhuman muscle biopsies we successfully generated satellite cell–like cells in vitro. After further development, idSCs may provide a scalable source of cells for the treatment of genetic muscle disorders, trauma-induced muscle damage and age-related muscle weakness.