miR-378 influences muscle satellite cells and enhances adipogenic potential of fibro-adipogenic progenitors but does not affect muscle regeneration in the glycerol-induced injury model

Skeletal muscle regeneration relies on the reciprocal interaction between many types of cells. Regenerative capacity may be altered in different disorders. In our study, we investigated whether the deletion of miR-378a (miR-378) affects muscle regeneration. We subjected 6-week-old wild-type (WT) and miR-378 knockout (miR-378(–/–)) animals to the glycerol-induced muscle injury and performed analyses in various time-points. In miR-378(–/–) animals, an elevated abundance of muscle satellite cells (mSCs) on day 3 was found. Furthermore, fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) isolated from the muscle of miR-378(–/–) mice exhibited enhanced adipogenic potential. At the same time, lack of miR-378 did not affect inflammation, fibrosis, adipose tissue deposition, centrally nucleated fiber count, muscle fiber size, FAP abundance, and muscle contractility at any time point analyzed. To conclude, our study revealed that miR-378 deletion influences the abundance of mSCs and the adipogenic potential of FAPs, but does not affect overall regeneration upon acute, glycerol-induced muscle injury.