Structural and functional alterations of the cell nucleus in skeletal muscle wasting: the evidence in situ.

The histochemical and ultrastructural analysis of the nuclear components involved in RNA transcription and splicing can reveal the occurrence of cellular dysfunctions eventually related to the onset of a pathological phenotype. In recent years, nuclear histochemistry at light and electron microscopy has increasingly been used to investigate the basic mechanisms of skeletal muscle diseases; the study in situ of nuclei of myofibres and satellite cells proved to be crucial for understanding the pathogenesis of skeletal muscle wasting in sarcopenia, myotonic dystrophy and laminopathies.