Satellite cells are derived from a somitic lineage during development, and are thought to disperse throughout the developing musculature concomitantly with the myoblasts that will contribute to embryonic and fetal myogenesis.

Possibly due to the potential for damage implicit in such diverse and critical functions, skeletal muscle is one of the most highly regenerative tissues in the body such regeneration requires the activity of a population of tissue-specific adult stem cells referred to as satellite cells.īriefly, muscle satellite cells are the obligate tissue-specific stem cells of skeletal muscle: if the satellite cell population (defined by expression of the satellite cell marker Pax7 ) is genetically ablated after maturity in the mouse, muscle regeneration fails. Our approximately six hundred and forty individual skeletal muscles, comprising roughly 40% of an adult human’s total body mass, are collectively responsible for maintaining posture and balance, for respiration, and for nearly all movements from the most delicate microsurgeries and brushstrokes to marathon running and power-lifting.

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