• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.207-217
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• 1988

A myotrophic protein that seemed to he eseentiai for the hision of chick embryonic myoblasts in culture was isolated from chick embryo extrad and was found to be identical or at least similar to the iron-transporting protein, transferrin. Embryo extract seemed to contain, in addition to this myotrophic protein, a heat stable protein that inhibits the fusion of myoblasts. Iron seemed to he necessary for myoblasts to fuse and it was supposed that the role of the myotrophic protein m myoblast fusion is to supply iron to the cell. The numher of the myotrophic protein receptors on myoblast surface membrane decreased immediately after the start of myoblast fusion, supposedly due to the decreased need of iron after the fusion once commenced. It was estimated that endocytosis of myotrophic protein took about 10 minutes and one recycling about 2 hours. The accumulation of iron in myoblasts continued linearly with cultre time and endocytosis of the myotrophic protein occured at a constant rate.