Date of Award

2011

Degree Type

Dissertation

Department

Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences

First Advisor

Weyman, Crystal

Subject Headings

Bone cells, Myoblasts, Apoptosis, Cell differentiation, Cell cycle -- Regulation, Messenger RNA, Cellular signal transduction, PUMA, Apoptosis, Translation, mRNA, IRES, Skeletal Myoblast, Differentiation, Total protein synthesis

Abstract

Differentiation and apoptosis are coordinately regulated in skeletal myoblasts. During the process of skeletal myoblast differentiation, our lab has determined that roughly 30 of myoblasts undergo apoptosis rather than differentiation. Further, we have reported that cytochrome C is released, and that the expression level of the pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family member PUMA is elevated, when 23A2 myoblasts are cultured in DM. Our long-term goal is to identify targets for manipulation that would abrogate this apoptosis without affecting differentiation. These findings could be significant to the study of myoblast transfer as a therapeutic approach. The goals of this dissertation are to: 1- determine the significance of PUMA in apoptosis associated with skeletal myoblast differentaion 2- determine the mechanism responsible for the increased expression of PUMA

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