Imaging analysis for muscle stem cells and regeneration

Composed of a diverse variety of cells, the skeletal muscle is one of the body's tissues with the remarkable ability to regenerate after injury. One of the key players in the regeneration process is the muscle satellite cell (MuSC), a stem cell population for skeletal muscle, as it is the source of new myofibers. Maintaining MuSC quiescence during homeostasis involves complex interactions between MuSCs and other cells in their corresponding niche in adult skeletal muscle. After the injury, MuSCs are activated to enter the cell cycle for cell proliferation and differentiate into myotubes, followed by mature myofibers to regenerate muscle. Despite decades of research, the exact mechanisms underlying MuSC maintenance and activation remain elusive. Traditional methods of analyzing MuSCs, including cell cultures, animal models, and gene expression analyses, provide some insight into MuSC biology but lack the ability to replicate the 3-dimensional (3-D)