Skeletal Muscle Satellite Cells in Sickle Cell Disease Patients and Their Responses to a Moderate-intensity Endurance Exercise Training Program

We previously demonstrated that 8 weeks of moderate-intensity endurance training is safe and improves muscle function and characteristics of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. Here, we investigated skeletal muscle satellite cells (SCs) in SCD patients and their responses to a training program. Fifteen patients followed the training program while 18 control patients maintained a normal lifestyle. Biopsies of the vastus lateralis muscle were performed before and after training. After training, the cross-sectional area and myonuclear content in type I fibers were slightly increased in the training patients compared to non-training patients. The SC pool was unchanged in type I fibers while it was slightly decreased in type II fibers in the training patients compared to non-training patients. No necrotic fibers were detected in patients before or after training. Therefore, the slight myonuclear accretion in type I fibers in trained SCD patients may highlight the contribution of SCs to training-induced slight type I fiber hypertrophy without expansion of the SC pool. The low training intensity and the short duration of training sessions could explain the low SC response to the training program. However, the lack of necrotic fibers suggests that the training program seemed to be safe for patients' muscle tissue.