Search

The present study aimed at verifying “in vivo” and “in vitro” the effects of mechanical vibrations on muscle development and on differentiation of satellite cells, the “stem cells” of muscle tissue. We realized a bioreactor composed by an eccentric motor which produces a displacement of 11 mm at frequencies between 1 and 120 Hz on a plate connected to the motor. On the plate we fixed a cage used for animals and the dishes for satellite cells and linear acceleration provoked by the motor to samples was measured. We used 30 Hz as stimulating frequency and we treated newborn mice from their birth for the next four weeks one 1h/day and satellite cells 1 and 4 days 1h/day always at 30 Hz. Every week we collected from a control and a treated mouse tibialis anterior muscles and we performed Western Blot analysis and quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) to investigate proteins and genes involved in hypertrophy and atrophy pathways of skeletal muscle. On satellite cells we studied some genes involved in differentiation and fusion of primary myoblasts. Results demonstrate that mechanical vibration induces muscle hypertrophy within the first week of treatment and enhances terminal differentiation of myoblasts of treated satellite cells respect to control ones.

The aim of this work is to test the effects of a specific mechanical stimulation (Low Amplitude, high Frequency Vibrations) on the bone matrix formation of hBMSCs. Previous studies demonstrated that chemical culture conditions could influence the differentiation of hBMSCs toward bone: by plating the cells in appropriate osteogenic culture medium hBMSCs differentiate into osteoblasts [1-3].

The present study aimed at verifying “in vivo” the effects of mechanical vibrations on muscle development. We realized a bioreactor composed by an eccentric motor which produces a displacement of 11 mm at frequencies between 1 and 120 Hz on a plate connected to the motor. On the plate we fixed a cage used for animals and the linear acceleration provoked by the motor to the cage was measured. We used 30 Hz as stimulating frequency and we treated newborn mice from their birth for the next five weeks one hour/day. Every week we collected from a control and a treated mouse tibials and quadriceps anterior muscles and we performed morfometric analysis on muscle fibers. Moreover, with PCR and Real-Time PCR (RT-PCR) we analysed for the second and the third week the expression of genes involved in muscle differentiation. Preliminary results suggest that whole-vibration treatment increases the rate of proliferation of muscle fibers with respect to the control, while from the third week the total number of fibers of treated or non-treated mice tend to balance. The results of RT-PCR of some of the genes involved in terminal differentiation demonstrate that mechanical vibration seems to increase the rate of differentiation of the treated muscles with respect to the control ones.