Myotubes are contractile fibers that express typical muscle markers and show striated sarcomeres. Until recently, methods of studying muscular disease and potential therapies were dependent on invasive muscle biopsies to produce limited batches of primary cells. The use of primary cells presents challenges, not only in the collection process but also related to inconsistencies in cell growth, behavior, and lifespan, making it difficult to generate reliable experimental models. The new Skeletal Muscle Differentiation kit from AMSBIO is designed to enable users to differentiate human pluripotent stem cells to skeletal muscle myotubes with high yields, without cell sorting or genetic manipulation. The kit allows researchers to generate muscle from human pluripotent stem cells in three steps, via satellite-like or progenitor cells and myoblasts that then fuse to multinucleated myotubes in the third step. According to the manufacturer, the Skeletal Muscle Differentiation kit protocol generates a highly pure population of approximately 70% skeletal muscle myotubes in a reproducible fashion.
