Eur J Anat, 15 (1): 3-9 (2011)

Control of the development of limb musculature

Marc Rodríguez-Niedenführ

Departamento de Anatomía y Embriología Humana I, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

ABSTRACT Limb muscle development is an embryonic multistep process including paraxial mesoderm segmentation, somite compartmentalisation, muscle precursor cell delamination (epithelial-mesenchymal transition), proliferation-migration and, finally, terminal differentiation. Classical as well as the latest research articles in this developmental biology field are reviewed and discussed. A general overview of molecular mechanisms controlling muscle development in the limb of the developing embryo is presented.

Keywords: Embryology, Segmentation, Somitogenesis, Somite compartmentalisation, Hypaxial muscles, Myogenesis