Expression of c-Met in muscle satellite cells of muscle injury

Abstract

Objective: To observe the expression of c-Met in muscle satellite cells in situ of normal and cardiotoxin-intoxicated muscle tissues. Methods: Twelve C 57 mice were divided into six groups, and raised in IVC laboratory. In the 1st to 6th group, the mice were injectied with cardiotoxin (5μg per mouse) in left quadriceps femoris, while their right quadriceps femoris were left for control without any injection. After the mice were sacrificed at different limited time-point. (one day, four days, one week, two weeks, four weeks, six weeks), the quadriceps femoris were isolated and fixed in 4 percent formaldehyde for 24 hours and then embeded in paraffin for histological, immunohistochemistical and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis to detect the expression of c-Met in muscle tissues in situ. Results: The results of immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR showed that there were few expressions of c-Met in muscle satellite cells of normal muscle tissues. Compared with normal tissues, obvious expression was found in 24 hour-group as well as the sixth week-group. The expression of c-Met peeked in the 1st and expressed continuously untill the 6th week. Conclusion: c-Met may be the critical protein in the process of muscle impairment and repaining.