Human muscle satellite cells show age-related differential expression of S100B protein and RAGE.

During aging, skeletal muscles show reduced mass and functional capacity largely due to loss of the regenerative ability of satellite cells (SCs), the quiescent stem cells located beneath the basal lamina surrounding each myofiber. While both the external environment and intrinsic properties of SCs appear to contribute to the age-related SC deficiency, the latter ones have been poorly investigated especially in humans. In the present work, we analyzed several parameters of SCs derived from biopsies of vastus lateralis muscle from healthy non-trained young (28.7 ± 5.9 years; n = 10) and aged (77.3 ± 6.4 years; n = 11) people. Compared with young SCs, aged SCs showed impaired differentiation when cultured in differentiation medium, and exhibited the following: (1) reduced proliferation; (2) higher expression levels of S100B, a negative regulator of myoblast differentiation; (3) undetectable levels in growth medium of full-length RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products), a multiligand receptor of the immunoglobulin superfamily, the engagement of which enhances myoblast differentiation; and (4) lower expression levels of the transcription factors, MyoD and Pax7. Also, either overexpression of full-length RAGE or knockdown of S100B in aged SCs resulted in enhanced differentiation, while overexpression of either a non-transducing mutant of RAGE (RAGEΔcyto) or S100B in young SCs resulted in reduced differentiation compared with controls. Moreover, while aged SCs maintained the ability to respond to mitogenic factors (e.g., bFGF and S100B), they were no longer able to secrete these factors, unlike young SCs. These data support a role for intrinsic factors, besides the extracellular environment in the defective SC function in aged skeletal muscles.