Hyaluronic acid bonded to cell culture surfaces inhibits the program of myogenesis.

Primary isolates of chick leg muscle myoblasts cultured on hyaluronic acid substrates have been examined by transmission electron microscopy for evidence of myoblast fusion and subsequent differentiation. Even though these cells form close contacts, no evidence of multinucleated myotubes is found in these cultures. Two-dimensional SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis shows that the muscle macromolecular biosynthetic program is not initiated in these hyaluronic acid fusion-blocked cells. Further, these fusion-blocked myoblasts continue replicating while cultured on hyaluronic acid surfaces. The inhibition of both fusion and the myogenic expressional program is reversed by replating these myoblasts onto a denatured collagen (gelatin) substrate; both the synthesis of muscle-specific proteins and the formation of multinucleated myotubes are observed when these subcultured cells are introduced onto gelatin substrates. These observations indicate that the hyaluronic acid inhibition of fusion is not permanent and is manifested in a way different from other fusion blockers in that hyaluronic acid inhibits both fusion and the myogenic expressional program.