Origin of satellite cells in avian skeletal muscles.

The study of the embryonic origin of the striated satellite cells is based 1) on a comparison of the specific morphology of the nuclei in satellite cells and in myofibers, in late embryonic and postnatal chick and quail muscles; 2) on a species-identification of the satellite cell nuclei in hetero-specific muscle tissues where myofibers derive from implanted quail somite and connective tissue fibroblasts from the chick host somatopleura. Observations clearly demonstrate that myofibers and satellite cells are of the same somitic origin. It is concluded that satellite cells represent a portion of the myogenic cell lineage.