Research Article

Injected Human Muscle Precursor Cells Overexpressing PGC-1α Enhance Functional Muscle Regeneration after Trauma

Figure 2

PGC-1α_hMPCs induce expression of genes related to vascularization, mitochondrial, and neuronal activation and enhance the contractility at early and midterm time points after TA crush injury during regeneration. RTPCR analysis confirmed the sustained overexpression of hPGC-1α and the signalling-deficient hD2R genes at the crush injury site over time. Relative VEGF-A, COXIV, and ACHE gene levels were enhanced in the corresponding samples, compared to control GFP_hMPC at (a) early, (b) midterm, and (c) late time points of regeneration. (d) PGC-1α overexpression led to increased TA contractile force at early and midterm time points. Native TA muscle (TA nat) was used as control, and the contraction force was set to 100%. Forces of injured muscles were calculated relatively as the percentage of maximum. VEGF-A: vascular endothelial growth factor-a, COXIV: cytochrome c oxidase subunit 4, ACHE: acetylcholine esterase. , , , and .
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