Mammalian wound repair environment does not permit skeletal muscle regeneration

Repair and regeneration are mutually exclusive responses to injury. Previous studies have shown that wound fluids promote proliferation, but not differentiation, of myoblasts in vitro. This study explored the ability of the repair environment within polyvinyl alcohol sponges to support cellular events of skeletal muscle regeneration in vivo. Neonatal rat L8 myoblasts were modified to express β‐galactosidase then inoculated into plain sponges or sponges containing minced muscle. Labeled myoblasts were found in myotubes within minced muscle. In contrast, myoblasts inoculated into sponges lacking muscle remained mononucleate. Occurrence of labeled myoblasts within myotubes, which required fusion, represents differentiation of inoculated myoblasts to participate in regeneration. Failure of myoblasts to form myotubes in sponges lacking muscle suggests that this wound repair environment cannot support morphologic differentiation of myoblasts. Although this repair environment can support the survival of myoblasts, it did not support myogenesis, an event necessary to complete skeletal muscle regeneration. Data from this study reinforce earlier studies in vitro and suggest that the properties attributed to wound fluids are inherent in the wound environment. Whether the inability of this environment to support myogenesis is the consequence of the absence of essential factors or the presence of inhibitors remains to be determined.