Primary Muscle Cells for Differentiation In Vitro

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Biomedical Sciences
Project Scientist

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Company:

Cell Applications

Product Name:

Cryopreserved Human Skeletal Muscle Cells: HSkMC, fetal

Catalog Number:

150-05f

Cell Applications has a variety of cryo-preserved primary cells available for cell culture assays. I was in need of muscle cells that could easily be differentiated in an in vitro setting. The human skeletal muscle cells (fetal) came in quite handy for this.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Muscle cell differentiation

Starting Material

Human skeletal muscle cells (fetal)

Protocol Overview

I thawed, maintained, and differentiated the human skeletal muscle cells according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Cell applications sells a proliferation medium and a differentiation supplement. The undifferentiated cells are pretty sturdy and robust in culture, and for maintenance I never needed any coating of my flasks and petri dishes. I passaged the cells 1/8 and got confluent flasks within 3-4 days. For differentiation you can seed the cells on laminin or gelatin coated dishes. Those can be purchased (Sigma-Aldrich) in a tissue culture grade powder or liquid from. For differentiation, I changed the cells to the differentiation medium – which consists of a basal medium and a supplement you add before use – according to the manufacturer’s instructions. During the differentiation process the cells expressed typical makers such as Pax7, MyoD, and Myosin.

Tips

The fused muscle cells start to look thinner when they have been differentiated for about 10 days. To achieve best results, I would only do half medium changes, once the differentiating cells were fusing, and that allowed to keep them healthy looking in culture for much longer.

Results Summary

The skeletal muscle cells grow quite well and fast and the differentiation process is straight forward when using the manufacturer’s differentiation supplement.

Additional Notes

None

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Summary

The Good

Easy to use. Generates good quality results.

The Bad

I couldn’t think of anything

The Bottom Line

If you need human primary muscle cells, this is a very good solution.

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