Skeletal muscle cells, one of the largest cell types in the body, are multinucleated cells. Skeletal muscle regeneration is a complex process. Injured skeletal muscle induce activation of quiescent resident myoblasts (aka satellite cells). This activation induce several processes, such as proliferation, migration, and differentiatiation. Various cellular signaling pathways, such as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, calcineurin, Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) play an important role in skeletal muscle growth. GLUT4 mediates Insulin-stimulated glucose transport in human skeletal muscle cells and heparan sulfate proteoglycan involves skeletal muscle differentiation. The fusion of mononucleated cells to form multinucleated myotubes is a central event in skeletal muscle development. Controlling the onset and progression of this process is a complex set of interactions between myoblasts and their environment.
Skeletal muscle cell culture is a useful model for studying the process of cell differentiation. Human Skeletal Muscle Cells are also useful tools to stablish in vitro disease models for High Throughput and High Content Screening.