Grant: Operating Grant

Tissue damage can lead to complete regeneration and the return of the tissue to full functionality, or can be followed by the generation of of a scar that ensures the continuity of a tissue but does not restore, and often impedes, its function. Several factor affect the balance between these two processes. For example, aged tissues are more likely to be repaired via scar formation than young tissues. Chronic disease and inflammation are well known to eventually lead to scar formation and failure to regenerate. The precise mechanisms determining whether regeneration or scar formation predominates are unknown, but they are likely to act at the level of the progenitor cells involved. However, while the progenitors involved in regeneration have been identified and studied in depth, little is know about those involved in scar formation. Our laboratory has recently identified such progenitors from skeletal muscle. Here, we propose to take advantage of this advance to investigate the mechanisms with which their activity is regulated in aging, disease and inflammation.