Abstract 2600 Shortened Telomeres and Altered Metabolism Suggest Early Senescence in Cerebral Palsy Muscle Stem Cells

INTRODUCTION: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) develop muscle contractures during growth, resulting in shorter, smaller muscles with reduced fiber diameter and overstretched sarcomeres compared to typically developing (TD) muscle. We previously showed that satellite cells (SCs) are reduced in CP hamstring muscle and exhibit impaired myogenic capacity, linked to DNA hypermethylation and premature expansion into myoblast progenitors rather than self-renewal. Treatment with the DNA hypomethylating agent Azacitidine (AZA) restored muscle-growth potential.