The Hidden Stem Cells That Can Strengthen Aging Muscle
A subset of muscle stem cells can be preserved into old age and prevent age-related decline
Stem cells and aging
We all begin life as a single fertilized cell. That cell, though, has to develop into a full-fledged human being with many different organs and tissues, each of which is composed out of different cell types.
How do we go from one cell to many different types of cells?
Stem cells are cells that can differentiate into many different cell types. As embryo, we have plenty of pluripotent stem cells that can develop into all of the body’s cell types.
As we age, though, the number of stem cells drops precipitously.
Pluripotent adult stem cells are quite rare, restricted to bone marrow and a few other tissues. Most adult stem cells are multipotent (restricted to a specific ‘lineage’ of cells, for example, different types of muscle cell) or unipotent (only able to become one specific cell type).
With every year that passes, our collection of adult stem cells becomes a little bit smaller. This is one of the reasons why it becomes harder to recover from injuries or illness. Our body’s…
