Stem cells, is there anything they can’t do? As you get older your muscles deteriorate. Now scientists are finding improved muscle health after using stem cells.

Athletes, the elderly and those with degenerative muscle disease would all benefit from accelerated muscle repair. When skeletal muscles, those connected to the bone, are injured, muscle stem cells wake up from a dormant state and repair the damage. When muscles age, however, stem cell number and function declines, as do both tissue function and regenerative ability. Carnegie’s Christoph Lepper and team, including researchers from the University of Missouri, investigated muscle stem cell pool size. In particular, they asked if stem cell number could be increased, and if there would be any associated functional benefits.

Using genetically modified mice, the scientists found that while a muscle’s size remained unchanged, it surprisingly, is capable of supporting a much greater number of these stem cells than previously thought. These “super-numeral” stem cells could repair injured muscle and were faster at it than when only normal numbers are present. The team also found that the increase in stem cells stunts the decline of weakened, degenerative muscles, potentially a boon for fighting muscular dystrophy. The study is published in the October 11, 2016, issue of eLife.

More info here: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-10-scientists-muscle-repaircould-dystrophy.html