Stephen D. Hauschka

Interactions between heterologous helix-loop-helix proteins generate complexes that bind specifically to a common DNA sequence

A DNA binding and dimerization motif, with apparent amphipathic helices (the HLH motif), has recently been identified in various proteins, including two that bind to immunoglobulin enhancers (E12 and E47). We show here that various HLH proteins can bind as apparent heterodimers to a single DNA motif and also, albeit usually more weakly, as apparent homodimers. The HLH domain can mediate heterodimer formation between either daughterless, E12, or E47 (Class A) and achaete-scute T3 or MyoD (Class B) to form proteins with high affinity for the kappa E2 site in the immunoglobulin kappa chain enhancer. The achaete-scute T3 and MyoD proteins do not form kappa E2-binding heterodimers together, and no active complex with N-myc was evident. The formation of a heterodimer between the daughterless and achaete-scute T3 products may explain the similar phenotypes of mutants at these two loci and the genetic interactions between them. A role of E12 and E47 in mammalian development, analogous to that of daughterless in Drosophila, is likely.

Skeletal myoblast transplantation for repair of myocardial necrosis

Myocardial infarcts heal by scarring because myocardium cannot regenerate. To determine if skeletal myoblasts could establish new contractile tissue, hearts of adult inbred rats were injured by freeze-thaw, and 3-4.5 x 10(6) neonatal skeletal muscle cells were transplanted immediately thereafter. At 1 d the graft cells were proliferating and did not express myosin heavy chain (MHC). By 3 d, multinucleated myotubes were present which expressed both embryonic and fast fiber MHCs. At 2 wk, electron microscopy demonstrated possible satellite stem cells. By 7 wk the grafts began expressing beta-MHC, a hallmark of the slow fiber phenotype; coexpression of embryonic, fast, and beta-MHC continued through 3 mo. Transplanting myoblasts 1 wk after injury yielded comparable results, except that grafts expressed beta-MHC sooner (by 2 wk). Grafts never expressed cardiac-specific MHC-alpha. Wounds containing 2-wk-old myoblast grafts contracted when stimulated ex vivo, and high frequency stimulation induced tetanus. Furthermore, the grafts could perform a cardiac-like duty cycle, alternating tetanus and relaxation, for at least 6 min. Thus, skeletal myoblasts can establish new muscle tissue when grafted into injured hearts, and this muscle can contract when stimulated electrically. Because the grafts convert to fatigue-resistant, slow twitch fibers, this new muscle may be suited to a cardiac work load.

MYOD IS A SEQUENCE-SPECIFIC DNA BINDING PROTEIN REQUIRING A REGION OF MYC HOMOLOGY TO BIND TO THE MUSCLE CREATINE KINASE ENHANCER

MyoD is a skeletal muscle-specific protein that is able to induce myogenesis in a wide variety of cell types. In this report, we show that MyoD is a DNA binding protein capable of specific interaction with two regions of the mouse muscle creatine kinase gene upstream enhancer, both of which are required for full muscle-specific enhancer activity. MyoD shares antigenicity and DNA binding specificity with MEF1, a myocyte-specific DNA binding factor. The contiguous basic and myc homology regions of MyoD that are necessary and sufficient for specific DNA interaction are the same regions of the protein required to convert 10T1/2 fibroblasts into muscle. These findings suggest that the biological activity of MyoD is mediated via its capacity for specific DNA interaction.

Myogenic differentiation in permanent clonal mouse myoblast cell lines: regulation by macromolecular growth factors in the culture medium.

Abstract A permanent clonal cell line of mouse myoblasts (MM14) has been used to study the transition from proliferation to terminal differentiation. Results indicate that the transition is strictly dependent on the culture medium environment. Evidence from clonal density cultures suggests that (1) specific macromolecular mitogenic components of the culture medium stimulate mouse myoblast proliferation and prevent differentiation, (2) mouse myoblasts eliminate mitogenic activity from the culture medium before differentiating, and (3) lowered activity of specific mitogens stops mouse myoblast proliferation and triggers the program of terminal differentiation leading to the elaboration of muscle specific gene products and formation of myotubes. Evidence for the regulatory role of specific mitogens is the stimulation of proliferation and delay of differentiation by the addition of nanomolar concentrations of fibroblast growth factor to mitogen-depleted, differentiation-promoting, culture medium, whereas the addition of other purified mitogens has no effect. The results support and extend evidence from other muscle culture systems that stimulation of proliferation delays myoblast differentiation, and they provide an experimental basis for controlling the synchronous differentiation of pure populations of clonally derived mouse myoblasts.

Interleukin-10 Prevents Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance by Attenuating Macrophage and Cytokine Response in Skeletal Muscle

OBJECTIVE Insulin resistance is a major characteristic of type 2 diabetes and is causally associated with obesity. Inflammation plays an important role in obesity-associated insulin resistance, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Interleukin (IL)-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine with lower circulating levels in obese subjects, and acute treatment with IL-10 prevents lipid-induced insulin resistance. We examined the role of IL-10 in glucose homeostasis using transgenic mice with muscle-specific overexpression of IL-10 (MCK-IL10). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS MCK-IL10 and wild-type mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 3 weeks, and insulin sensitivity was determined using hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps in conscious mice. Biochemical and molecular analyses were performed in muscle to assess glucose metabolism, insulin signaling, and inflammatory responses. RESULTS MCK-IL10 mice developed with no obvious anomaly and showed increased whole-body insulin sensitivity. After 3 weeks of HFD, MCK-IL10 mice developed comparable obesity to wild-type littermates but remained insulin sensitive in skeletal muscle. This was mostly due to significant increases in glucose metabolism, insulin receptor substrate-1, and Akt activity in muscle. HFD increased macrophage-specific CD68 and F4/80 levels in wild-type muscle that was associated with marked increases in tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-6, and C-C motif chemokine receptor-2 levels. In contrast, MCK-IL10 mice were protected from diet-induced inflammatory response in muscle. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that IL-10 increases insulin sensitivity and protects skeletal muscle from obesity-associated macrophage infiltration, increases in inflammatory cytokines, and their deleterious effects on insulin signaling and glucose metabolism. Our findings provide novel insights into the role of anti-inflammatory cytokine in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Laminin alters cell shape and stimulates motility and proliferation of murine skeletal myoblasts

Proliferating skeletal myoblasts show multiple specific responses to laminin, one of the major glycoprotein components of basement membranes. Using MM14Dy myoblasts, a myogenic cell strain derived from a normal adult mouse skeletal muscle, we show in this study that substrate-bound laminin but not other matrix proteins such as collagens or fibronectin specifically and rapidly induces the outgrowth of cell processes, resulting in bipolar, spindle-shaped cells. This effect is independent from the presence of collagens or serum, and was also observed in primary cultures of fetal mouse skeletal myoblasts. The outgrowth of cell processes on laminin is associated with a dramatic stimulation of cell motility: MM14 myoblasts migrate about five times faster on laminin than on fibronectin. In another series of experiments the effect of laminin and fibronectin on thymidine uptake and proliferation of myoblasts was tested. On top of a type I collagen substrate which was provided to ensure complete adhesion even at low doses of laminin or fibronectin, laminin stimulated myoblast proliferation and incorporation of [3H]thymidine in a dose-dependent manner. The stimulation is two- to threefold higher than on dishes coated with equivalent amounts of fibronectin and is observed both in the presence and in the absence of serum. These results suggest that laminin, a major component of the muscle basal lamina, may be actively involved in the development and regeneration of skeletal muscle.

Clonal analysis of vertebrate myogenesis. I. Early developmental events in the chick limb.

Abstract Early developmental events occurring in the prospective muscle tissue region of chick embryo leg buds have been subjected to an in vitro clonal analysis. Colony-forming cells are present at stage 20 (72 hr incubation), but none of the colonies exhibit morphological signs of muscle differentiation. After an additional 8 hr of incubation (stage 21), approximately 10% of the colony-forming cells have acquired the capacity to form multinucleated cells in vitro , and the percentage of clonable myoblasts increases to a level of approximately 60% during the next 3 days of incubation. Clonal analysis of myoblast populations within regions of the developing limb have indicated that, between stages 21 and 27, the dorsal and ventral segments of the myogenic region contain appreciably more clonable muscle cells than the anterior and posterior segments. In addition, during stages 21 and 22 there is a 3-fold difference in muscle-colony-forming cells between the proximal and distal halves of the dorsal-ventral segments, as well as between the proximal and distal halves of the anterior-posterior segments. Thus at least two temporal and regional gradients—proximal to distal and medial to lateral—of clonable myoblast content can be delineated within the developing chick limb. In addition to changes in the proportions of muscle-colony-forming cells, the extent of multinuclearity within individual muscle colonies increases with the developmental age of the embryo from which the clonable myoblasts are derived. The progressive changes in the relative proportions of muscle-colony-forming cells and in clonal morphology are discussed in terms of their possible cell lineage implications.

Muscle differentiation during repair of myocardial necrosis in rats via gene transfer with MyoD.

Myocardial infarcts heal by scar formation because there are no stem cells in myocardium, and because adult myocytes cannot divide and repopulate the wound. We sought to redirect the heart to form skeletal muscle instead of scar by transferring the myogenic determination gene, MyoD, into cardiac granulation (wound repair) tissue. A replication-defective adenovirus was constructed containing MyoD under transcriptional control of the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat. The virus converted cultured cardiac fibroblasts to skeletal muscle, indicated by expression of myogenin and skeletal myosin heavy chains (MHCs). To determine if MyoD could induce muscle differentiation in vivo, we injected 2 x 10(9) or 10(10) pfu of either the MyoD or a control beta-galactosidase adenovirus into healing rat hearts, injured 1 wk previously by freeze-thaw. After receiving the lower viral dose, cardiac granulation tissue expressed MyoD mRNA and protein, but did not express myogenin or skeletal MHC. When the higher dose of virus was administered, double immunostaining showed that cells in reparative tissue expressed both myogenin and embryonic skeletal MHC. No muscle differentiation occurred after beta-galactosidase transfection. Thus, MyoD gene transfer can induce skeletal muscle differentiation in healing heart lesions. Modifications of this strategy might eventually provide new contractile tissue to repair myocardial infarcts.

Clonal analysis of vertebrate myogenesis: IV. Medium-dependent classification of colony-forming cells

Abstract The cell lineage of chick leg muscle between 3 and 12 days of development has been studied by use of an in vitro clonal assay. The assay permits distinctions to be made among various types of muscle-colony-forming cells (MCF cells) on the basis of their medium requirements and clonal morphology. Results suggest the sequential occurrence of at least four types of MCF cells, three of which require conditioned medium for their differentiation and one of which can form differentiated colonies in fresh medium. The nature of the “conditioned medium effect” was further investigated by the use of medium-switch experiments. By this process it was shown that the same populations of colony-forming cells attach and grow in fresh and conditioned medium and that the differentiation of colonies derived from conditioned-medium-requiring myoblasts is permitted by brief exposure to conditioned medium followed by culture in fresh medium. Further investigation indicated that during brief exposure to conditioned medium the gelatin-coated petri plate surface is altered such that differentiation of conditioned-medium-requiring colonies is allowed. We conclude that the conditioned medium effect involves a surface-mediated interaction between myoblasts and one or more conditioned medium components.

Clonal analysis of vertebrate myogenesis: VIII. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-dependent and FGF-independent muscle colony types during chick wing development☆

The effect of bovine fibroblast growth factor (FGF) on the in vitro differentiation of various stage-specific populations of skeletal muscle colony-forming (MCF) cells from the developing chick wing bud was examined. The results show that bovine FGF (3 ng/ml daily) delays the onset of differentiation of MCF cells obtained from Day 4-12 wing buds by about 1 day; but, in addition, the results demonstrate that a subset of colony-forming cells derived from stage 23-27 (Day 4-5) embryos require FGF for myogenic differentiation. The FGF-dependent MCF cells attach and grow in the absence of FGF, but do not differentiate unless given FGF within 1-3 days after inoculation. Thus, between stages 23 and 27 the myogenic population contains discrete subclasses that are FGF dependent and others that are FGF independent. Both subclasses are found within two of the previously classified MCF cell populations, the early and late MCF cells. FGF-dependent and independent early MCF cells are present within the wing bud until stage 25, after which only the FGF-independent early MCF subclass persists. Similarly, both FGF-dependent and -independent late MCF cells are present between stages 25 and 27, but only the FGF-independent late MCF subclass remains after stage 31. The mechanisms responsible for relative changes in the proportions of MCF cell subclasses and for the FGF requirements are not understood. In addition, while FGF is required, there is no evidence suggesting that FGF triggers skeletal muscle terminal differentiation within the FGF-dependent MCF cell subclasses.