[Cell adhesion and development of skeletal muscle]

Abstract

Cell adhesion is a cell autonomous property of pluricellular organisms at the basis of tissues and organs formation. Thus, adhesive processes must be considered as key features of the development of skeletal muscle as well as of other tissues. We present here the actual knowledge on cell adhesion molecules in skeletal muscle morphogenesis. The spatio-temporal expression patterns of N-CAM, N-cadherin, M-cadherin, VLA-4 and VCAM-1 during chicken and mouse myogenesis suggest that these cell adhesion molecules are differentially involved in myoblast-myoblast, myoblast-myotube and myotube-myotube interactions. These molecules link myogenic cells before they are separated by their basal laminae. They can potentially induce preferential cell adhesion and sorting-out as it has been described by Holtfreter. This differential adhesion may lead either to myoblast fusion or to preferential association between primary and secondary myotubes.