Research progress of intramuscular fat formation based on co-culture

Abstract

Intramuscular fat (IMF) is closely related to the meat quality of livestock and poultry. As a new cell culture technique in vitro, cell co-culture has been gradually applied to the related research of IMF formation because it can simulate the changes of microenvironment in vivo during the process of IMF cell formation. In the co-culture model, in addition to studying the effects of skeletal muscle cells on the proliferation and differentiation of IMF, we can also consider the role of many secretion factors in the formation of IMF, thus making the cell research in vitro closer to the real level in vivo. This paper reviewed the generation and origin of IMF, summarized the existing co-culture methods and systems, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each method as well as the challenges faced in the establishment of the system, with emphasis on the current status of research on the formation of IMF for human and animal based on co-culture technology.

Keywords:

• Co-culture
• adipocytes
• skeletal muscle cells
• meat animals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Postgraduate Innovation Project of Ningxia university [CXXM202246], the Natural Science Foundation of Ningxia [2021AAC05007], the Natural Science Foundation of China [32060744, 32202641), the Youth Talents Promotion Project of Ningxia Province, China [TJGC2019076] and the PhD Research Startup Foundation of Ningxia University [030900001926].