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Figure 2 | BMC Genomics

Figure 2

From: Cholesterol depletion induces transcriptional changes during skeletal muscle differentiation

Figure 2

A proposed model for the effects of MbCD-induced cholesterol depletion in chick myogenic cells. Our experiments suggest that cholesterol depletion by methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MbCD) enhances myoblast proliferation and its subsequent adhesion and fusion into multinucleated myotubes. Schematically, in normal myogenesis (A-C), myoblasts withdrawal from cell cycle (A) and became bipolar myoblasts. These bipolar myoblasts will then align with each other, guided by recognition between their plasma membranes (B) and fuse to form long multinucleated myotubes, with sharp striations and aligned nuclei (C). Conversely, myoblasts treated with MbCD (D) display an enhancement in cell proliferation (E) and fusion (F) leading to the formation of thicker myotubes (G). Note that nuclei (shown in blue) are well aligned at the periphery of control myotubes and are clustered in the central region of MbCD-treated myotubes. Areas of membrane adhesion are shown in red.

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