Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Extends in VitroReplicative Life Span of Skeletal Muscle Satellite Cells by Enhancing G1/S Cell Cycle Progression via the Activation of Phosphatidylinositol 3′-Kinase/Akt Signaling Pathway*

Interest is growing in methods to extend replicative life span of non-immortalized stem cells. Using the insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) transgenic mouse in which the IGF-I transgene is expressed during skeletal muscle development and maturation prior to isolation and during culture of satellite cells (the myogenic stem cells of mature skeletal muscle fibers) as a model system, we elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms of IGF-I-mediated enhancement of proliferative potential of these cells. Satellite cells from IGF-I transgenic muscles achieved at least five additional population doublings above the maximum that was attained by wild type satellite cells. This IGF-I-induced increase in proliferative potential was mediated via activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase/Akt pathway, independent of mitogen-activated protein kinase activity, facilitating G1/S cell cycle progression via a down-regulation of p27 Kip1 . Adenovirally mediated ectopic overexpression of p27 Kip1 in exponentially growing IGF-I transgenic satellite cells reversed the increase in cyclin E-cdk2 kinase activity, pRb phosphorylation, and cyclin A protein abundance, thereby implicating an important role for p27 Kip1 in promoting satellite cell senescence. These observations provide a more complete dissection of molecular events by which increased local expression of a growth factor in mature skeletal muscle fibers extends replicative life span of primary stem cells than previously known.