Murine and Human Myogenic Cells Identified by Elevated Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity: Implications for Muscle Regeneration and Repair

Abstract

The methodology of isolating myogenic cells on the basis of elevated ALDH activity yielded cells with increased stress resistance, a behavior that conferred increased regenerative capacity of dystrophic murine skeletal muscle. This result demonstrates the critical role of stress resistance in myogenic cell therapy as well as confirms the role of ALDH as a marker for rapid isolation of murine and human myogenic progenitors for cell therapy.