Project 8 - Targeting CaSR in human skeletal muscle cells to delay sarcopenia development

Host Institution: University of Florence
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Hypothesis: therapeutic solutions to sarcopenia involve activation of myogenesis. As the CaSR is expressed in myocytes, selective CaSR modulators will impact the onset of sarcopenia.

Objectives: Sarcopenia is an age-related process characterized by loss of skeletal muscle mass and function and it causes physical disability. ESR_UNIFI will 1) develop an in vitro model of primary cultures of human skeletal muscle myocytes and will evaluate which proteins, including receptors, modulating signals and ion channels, are involved in myogenesis; 2) assess the role of the CaSR in differentiation of adult mesenchymal stem cells into myocytes and in myoblasts differentiated from adipose mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs); 3) test selective CaSR modulators for their benefits in skeletal muscle differentiation.