Vessel-associated stem cells from skeletal muscle: From biology to future uses in cell therapy

Figure 1 Embryonic origin of muscular progenitors. Upper panel. Schematic representation of the somitic origin throughout the myotome of classical muscular progenitors-myotomal cells, myoblasts, SCs. A fraction of SCs derives from a population of undifferentiated PAX7⁺PAX3⁺ stem cells located in the central compartment of hypaxial mesoderm. Lower panel. Left. Origin of various multipotent progenitors from different areas of dorsal aorta (mesodermal progenitors endowed with the highest myogenic potential, endothelial, hematopoietic progenitors). Wnt, sonic hedgehog and endoderm signalings can influence commitment. Right. Possible lineage model of mesodermal progenitors which could derive from a unique common primitive ancestor (angioblast) (partially developed from Cossu et al[15]). Flk1b: Flit ligand kinase 1b; Tal1: T acute leukemia 1; SHH: Sonic hedgehog.