Zoology Dept, University of Wroclaw, 21, Sienkiewicza Street, 50-335 Wroclaw, Poland.
Curr Pharm Des. 2010;16(8):929-41. doi: 10.2174/138161210790883462.
The recent demonstration that, throughout evolution, many molecular mechanisms have been highly conserved is fundamental to the advancement of our knowledge on muscle development and regeneration. Research has provided new insights into genetic cascades governing early steps of embryonic myogenesis and the regeneration of adult muscle in normal and pathological conditions, thus revealing significant similarity of both processes. Here we provide a current view on genetic mechanisms underlying muscle regeneration with a special focus on regeneration processes that take place in diseased and aging human muscle. Through examples of Drosophila models of human muscular diseases, we discuss potential impact they might have on uncovering molecular bases and identifying new treatments of muscle disorders. Taking advantage of evolutionarily conserved aspects of muscle development and the relative ease by which molecular pathways can be uncovered and dissected in a simple animal model, the fruit fly, we provide a comprehensive analysis of muscle development in Drosophila. Importantly, identification of muscle stem cell like adult muscle precursors in Drosophila makes fruit fly an attractive model system for studying muscle stem cell biology and muscle regeneration. In support of this assumption, recent studies in our laboratory provide arguments that important insights into the biology of vertebrate muscle stem cells can be gained from genetic analysis in Drosophila.
最近的研究表明，在整个进化过程中，许多分子机制都得到了高度的保守，这对于我们深入了解肌肉发育和再生的知识至关重要。研究为我们提供了关于指导胚胎肌发生和正常及病理条件下成年肌肉再生的早期步骤的遗传级联的新见解，从而揭示了这两个过程的显著相似性。在这里，我们提供了一个关于肌肉再生的遗传机制的最新观点，特别关注发生在患病和衰老的人类肌肉中的再生过程。通过人类肌肉疾病的果蝇模型的例子，我们讨论了它们在揭示分子基础和确定肌肉疾病新治疗方法方面可能具有的潜在影响。利用肌肉发育在进化上的保守性，以及在简单的动物模型中揭示和剖析分子途径的相对容易性，我们对果蝇的肌肉发育进行了全面的分析。重要的是，在果蝇中鉴定出类似于成体肌肉前体细胞的肌肉干细胞，使果蝇成为研究肌肉干细胞生物学和肌肉再生的有吸引力的模型系统。为了支持这一假设，我们实验室最近的研究提供了证据，表明从果蝇的遗传分析中可以获得对脊椎动物肌肉干细胞生物学的重要见解。
