The effect of calcium ion concentration on myotube formation in vitro

The relationship of Ca^a+ concentration in in vitro tissue culture medium to the ability of the medium to support lizard and chick myotube formation was studied. Lizard myogenic cells (from lines established from the regenerating tail of the lizard, Anolis caroliensis) do not fuse in media with a Ca²⁺ concentration of below 650 μM; good fusion occurs at 1 750μM; and large anastomosing tubes result in media with concentrations of 2 750,μM. Chick myogenic cells from the limb of 11 day embryos do not fuse at Ca²⁺ concentrations below 260,μM, fuse well at 1 000 μM, and produce large anastomosing myotubes at concentrations above 1 700 μM. Colonies of myogenic cells from established lines plated at clonal densities in a medium with a 1 750 μM Ca²⁺ concentration grow more rapidly than those at 650 μM Ca²⁺; however, there is no increase in plating efficiency. Regardless of the Ca²⁺ concentration, lizard myogenic cells do not fuse until a large percentage of the cells in a colony have withdrawn from the mitotic cycle in Gl and entered GO. The similarities between in vivo and in vitro lizard myogenesis are discussed.