Myogenesis during holothurian intestinal regeneration

Echinoderms are well known as being able to regenerate body parts and thus provide excellent models for studying regenerative processes in adult organisms. We are interested in intestinal regeneration in the sea cucumber, Holothuria glaberrima, and focus here on the regeneration of intestinal muscle components. We have used immunohistochemical techniques to describe the formation of the intestinal muscle layers. Myoblasts are first observed within the regenerating structure, adjacent to the coelomic epithelia. Within a few days, these cells acquire muscle markers and form a single cell layer that underlies the epithelia. Animals injected with BrdU at various regeneration stages have been subsequently analyzed for the presence of muscle differentiation markers. BrdU-labeled muscle nuclei are observed in myocytes of 3-week regenerates, showing that these cells originate from proliferating precursors. The peak in muscle precursor proliferation appears to occur during the second week of regeneration. Therefore, new muscle cells in the regenerating intestine originate from precursors that have undergone cell division. Our results suggest that the precursor cells arise from the coelomic epithelia. We also provide a comparative view of muscle regeneration in an echinoderm, a topic of interest in view of the many recent studies of muscle regeneration in vertebrate species.