Abstract: Objective To explore if the muscle satellite cells in rats can delay the skeleton muscular dystrophy. Method Sixteen male Wistar rats randomly assigned into the experimental and the control group.The tibial nerve of the right leg of each rat was cut with lcm lesion, and the model of denervated skeletal muscle was made. Equal amount of muscle satellite cells suspension or physiological saline was injected into the denervated gastrocnemius of the experimental group and the control group respectively. Four weeks after transplantation,both groups were stimulated with different strength of electric impulses to measure the lension of denervated skeletal muscle. Result The differences of tension of skeletal muscle between two groups was statistically significant. Conclusion The transplantation of rat muscle satellite cells into denervated muscle can maintain the muscular tension, and thus alleviate the rate of atrophy of skeleton muscle, and help the recovery of the muscle’s function. This may provide a clinical effective way to prevent and treat denervated skeleton muscular dystrophy.

Key words: Muscle satellite cells, Transplantation, Muscular dystrophy, Muscular tension