Primary human muscle precursor cells obtained from young and old donors produce similar proliferative, differentiation and senescent profiles in culture.

The myogenic behaviour of primary human muscle precursor cells (MPCs) obtained from young (aged 20-25 years) and elderly people (aged 67-82 years) was studied in culture. Cells were compared in terms of proliferation, DNA damage, time course and extent of myogenic marker expression during differentiation, fusion, size of the formed myotubes, secretion of the myogenic regulatory cytokine TGF-β1 and sensitivity to TGF-β1 treatment. No differences were observed between cells obtained from the young and elderly people.