By Ratneshwar Thakur
New Delhi: Indian researchers are trying to understand the mystery of muscle related problems like Muscle Dystrophy, a progressive muscle disorder where muscles fail to recover after damage, using advances in stem cell science.
At the National Center for Biological Sciences-TIFR, Bangalore, researchers have discovered a new population of stem cells in muscles of Drosophila flies involved in repair of injured tissue.
Exercise such as running and lifting weights causes muscles damage, but they recover and are suitable for work again. How is this achieved? “We thought we can study this in the most easily accessible model i.e. fly. These are small flying insects, we see hovering on the ripened banana. We were puzzled about how an insect can fly for so long, much like we, humans run and walk throughout our life. It is a simple question with vast implication to understand about muscles in general. Fruit fly came as an easy model,” says Rajesh Gunage, a senior author of the new study published this week.
