BACKGROUND
the real-time polymerase chain reaction  has revolutionized the field of gene expression analysis in living organisms.
in comparison to classical semi-quantitative reverse transcription-pcr , the main advantages of qrt-pcr are its higher sensitivity, specificity, and broad quantification range  <cit> .
despite being an extremely powerful technique, qrt-pcr suffers from certain pitfalls, the most important being the normalization with a reliable reference gene, habitually called 'housekeeping gene '.
the housekeeping term was initially given to genes that are necessary for cell function and being constitutively expressed in each cell type  <cit>  but obviously it would be more precise to call it 'reference gene '.
rg are often taken from the literature and used across a variety of experimental conditions, some of which may induce differences in the rg own expression under certain conditions  <cit> .
thus, experimental results are highly dependent on the rg gene chosen  <cit> .
if unrecognized, unexpected changes in rg expression could result in erroneous conclusions about real biological effects such as responses to drugs  <cit> .
such errors could be introduced at a number of stages throughout the experimental protocol   <cit> .
therefore, it is critical to correct any errors between samples when measuring rna expression.
during the selection of an adequate rg, several indications should be taken into consideration: 1) the expression of the rg must remain constant throughout the intervention; 2) the amplification efficiency of the rg should be similar to that of the genes of interest ; and 3) the abundance of the rg should be similar to that of the genes of interest  <cit> .
therefore, appropriate rg validation of internal references is crucial in order to avoid misinterpretations of study findings  <cit> .
if the selected rg fluctuate randomly among samples, then subtle differences between goi will be lost.
for example, variation in presumably stable rg was shown in studies examining their expression in serum-stimulated fibroblasts  <cit> .
skeletal muscle tissue engineering aims at the reconstruction of skeletal muscle loss.
the field of skeletal muscle tissue engineering has involved to create efficient muscle tissue by using the regenerative potential of stem cells and their potential for proliferation and maturation  <cit> .
the preferred sources of cells for skeletal muscle tissue engineering applications are primary satellite cells  <cit> .
human satellite cells can be successfully extracted and expanded in vitro and differentiated into myofibers using different stimuli.
in this context, previous reports have used conventional rg  <cit> , but there is no data available about the validity of these rg during serum-dependent differentiation of human myoblasts in vitro.
our main goi were differentiation markers that have unknown rna expression under experimental conditions.
consequently, we could anticipate that differences between the treatments might be small.
therefore, it was highly important to find an internal reference with minimal variability.
thus, we used qrt-pcr to investigate the levels of six rg expressed in cultured myoblasts.
here we report the most suitable rg to detect small variations during the differentiation of myoblasts under certain culture conditions.
RESULTS
differentiation of myoblasts
samples indicated various stages of differentiation.
we initially verified that our samples truly represented differentiating cells by analyzing the creatine phosphokinase  activity level, a well-known and accepted marker of differentiation  <cit> .
rna quality
all rna samples were examined as to their concentration, purity, and integrity.
rna purity was measured using the nanodrop® spectrophotometer.
based on the absorbance ratio at  <dig> nm/ <dig> nm , all rna samples were pure and protein free.
the mean  a260/ <dig> ratio of  <dig>  ±  <dig>   indicated that the rna was free of phenol and ethanol.
rna integrity was assessed by the calculation of rin values using the agilent  <dig> bioanalyzer.
differentiated and undifferentiated myoblast samples revealed rin values between  <dig>  and  <dig> .
stability of rg within sample groups
first, the efficiencies of every run were calculated using standard curves.
the mean of the efficiencies of genes of interest  and rg are similar in a range between  <dig>  and  <dig>  .
mean of the amplification efficiencies of six reference genes and three genes of interest .
efficiency calculation was performed from the slopes of the calibration curve according to the equation e =  <dig> .
abbreviations: rg, reference genes; goi, genes of interest; sem, arithmetic, standard error of the mean; n, number of pcr runs.
the stability of the six rg was assessed for each sample group.
gene expression levels were measured by qrt-pcr and the expression stabilities were evaluated by the three most commonly used software-based methods: 1- genorm  <cit> , 2- normfinder  <cit>  and 3-bestkeeper  <cit> .
1-genorm
2- normfinder
candidate reference genes for normalization are listed according to their expression stability calculated by the normfinder program .
the analysis of the expression stability was performed taken the expression of the rg from rna samples of myoblasts.
the analysis was performed using myoblasts cultured in normal medium , or differentiation medium .
additionally, the analysis of the combination of n and d together is shown.
*high expression stability is indicated by a low stability value as an estimate of the combined intra- and intergroup variation of the individual gene.
se stands for standard error.
representative results from three experiments.
3- bestkeeper
the results of reference gene evaluation by the bestkeeper tool are shown in table  <dig>  according to the variability observed, rg can be identified as the most stable genes, as they exhibited the lowest coefficient of variance .
in this context, we found rplpo, tbp or ppia, with cv ± sd of  <dig>  ±  <dig> ,  <dig>  ±  <dig>  or  <dig>  ±  <dig> , respectively, to be the most stable reference genes .
b2m, actb and gapdh exhibited the highest coefficient of variance with  <dig>  ±  <dig> ,  <dig>  ±  <dig>  or  <dig>  ±  <dig> , indicating that these were the least stable normfinder rg .
however, genes that show a sd higher than  <dig>  should be considered unacceptable  <cit> .
a low sd of the crossing point  values should be expected for useful rg.
corresponding to the estimation of the sd  of the cv , value was highest for actb, gapdh and b2m .
this constitutes a reason to exclude these genes from the bestkeeper index calculation, as they are not reliable rg in this setting  <cit> .
the weighted index bestkeeper calculated for the six candidates showed a sd of cp = ±  <dig>  cycles.
after the exclusion of gapdh, b2m, and actb from the index, its variation decreased  to a figure identical to rplpo .
goi expression data are statistically processed with the bestkeeper software in the same way as those of rg, e.g., their gm, am, sd, cv, min.
and max.
values .
according to the variability observed, goi can be identified as well as rg by choosing the most stable genes with the lowest variation, but none of the goi tested  showed an acceptable cv ± sd variability .
a new version of the bestkeeper tool that also employs non-parametric methods is being prepared  <cit>  by which genes with very different expression levels can be compared.
on the other hand, all six rg correlated very well one with another .
descriptive statistics of six rg based on their crossing point  values.
in the two last columns the bestkeeper  index is computed together with the same descriptive parameters, either for six genes  or for three genes after removal of gapdh, b2m and actb.
abbreviations: cv : the coefficient of variance expressed as a percentage on the cp level; sd : the standard deviation of the cp; sd : standard deviation of the absolute regulation coefficients; results from three independent experiments are shown.
descriptive statistics of three goi based on their crossing point  values.
abbreviations: am : the arithmetic mean of cp; cv : the coefficient of variance expressed as a percentage on the cp level; gm : the geometric mean of cp; min  and max : the extreme values of cp; min  and max : the extreme values of expression levels expressed as an absolute x-fold over- or under-regulation coefficient; n: number of samples; sd : the standard deviation of the cp; sd : standard deviation of the absolute regulation coefficients.
results from three independent experiments are shown.
evaluation of selected candidate rg and normalization approach
following identification of the most stable rg and the normalization factor  from the full panel of rg, a method was needed for their evaluation.
correlations among the status of the myoblast differentiation  and expression of rg and acta <dig>  myog and myh <dig>  are shown in table  <dig>  therefore, we expected these observations to be mirrored at the mrna level.
more specifically, following treatment with the differentiation medium, a high and significant correlation between the ck activity and the expression of acta <dig>  myog or myh <dig> was found , whereas rplpo, tbp and gapdh showed no significant correlation with ck .
however, both positive  and negative  correlation between gene expression and ck were also found .
a significant positive correlation was found between the goi , whereas there was no correlation between rplpo, tbp or gapdh and acta <dig>  myog or myh <dig>  however, b2m showed a good correlation .
actb has shown a negative correlation with acta <dig> and myh <dig>  but not with myog .
pearson's correlation between the state of the myoblast differentiation  and expression of the acta <dig>  myog or myh <dig> normalized with nf calculated with rplpo and tbp by genorm and the rg normalized with the same nf.
abbreviations: ck: protein kinase activity; n: number of samples; p: significance; r: correlation coefficient.
bold italic letters indicate correlation which is not statistically significant.
results from three independent experiments are shown.
discussion
myogenesis of skeletal muscle is a highly complex phenomenon controlled and regulated by multiple intracellular signalling mechanisms  <cit> .
in order to investigate optimal culture conditions and characterization of human myoblasts, we analyzed cell behaviour under different culture media and showed that cultures treated with differentiation medium expressed several characteristic features of mature skeletal muscle  <cit> .
furthermore, in myoblasts cultured with growth medium, certain markers of differentiation were detected, demonstrating that, for an accurate characterization, multiple markers  must be analyzed  <cit> .
during skeletal muscle differentiation, mononucleated proliferating myoblasts stop dividing, activate muscle-specific gene expression, and fuse into multinucleated myotubes  <cit> ; these events can produce drastic or small variation in the expression of genes and proteins.
markers of differentiation were also detected in cultures treated with non-differentiation medium, but there was no formation of myotubes.
in the enzymatic assay of ck, a well-known and accepted marker of differentiation, cultures treated with differentiation medium showed a higher activity, evidencing a higher degree of differentiation  <cit> .
in this context, the strategy used to normalize the mrna with adequate rg is critical.
to identify the best rg as normalisers in gene expression studies, several strategies including computer programs have been recommended  <cit> .
the absence of the differential expression or variability of the candidate rg examined is the strongest proof of suitability and stability  <cit> .
therefore, we proposed to use several software programs to analyze six rg and select the rg or normalization factors to correct the rna input.
the major result of our study – evaluating six candidate rg in myoblasts under normal and differentiation conditions, during  <dig> and  <dig> days of treatment – was that the genes rplpo or tbp were identified by the three independent software programs as suitable rg that did not differ in their expression in differentiated and undifferentiated myoblasts.
consequently, only rplpo, identified by genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper software programs fulfils the criterion of expression stability between samples and can be recommended as an accurate normalizer for relative gene quantification in cultured myoblasts.
first, the expression of the candidate rg between the respective conditions was compared using an adequate test such as genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper.
it can be assumed that genes with significantly different expressions are not suited for target gene normalization, since they are affected by the study condition of interest.
thus, those genes should be excluded as normalizers.
in the present study, the expression of all genes in the differentiated and undifferentiated myoblast samples showed different grades of variability but the most stable were rplpo and tbp.
we used the bestkeeper software to confirm the results obtained by genorm and normfinder.
the raw cps analyzed by bestkeeper seem to be good estimators of the expression levels as they are  normally distributed and a parametric test can thus be performed  <cit> .
this also gives the cp datasets the gaussian distribution, justifying usage of parametric methods  <cit> .
low numbers of expressed genes where cps were obtained somewhere surely show different variances compared to highly expressed genes with cps.
these higher levels of cv and sd invalidate the use of bestkeeper as a reference to normalizing the expression of goi  <cit> .
the correlation analysis of the normalized gene with nf showed a bad correlation between the rg rplpo, tbp or gapdh and the different differentiation markers .
in this context, the absence of correlation confirmed that the rg selected by genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper are suitable as reference for the normalization.
in addition, we found a significant correlation between b2m or actb and the goi which indicates a variation associated with the differentiation status of the myoblast.
thus, they cannot be used as reference genes.
two or three genes represent a realistic calculation basis in a common laboratory and the minimum necessary number for a good analysis  <cit> .
rplpo std dev cp  is identical to bestkeeper calculated with rplpo, tbp and ppia.
in this context, the rg, rplpo and tbp, detected by bestkeeper agree with the best rg detected by genorm and normfinder.
the normalization with nf, rplpo or tbp allows measurements of differences in the expression of the differentiation gene-markers between myoblasts treated with differentiation medium or normal medium .
CONCLUSIONS
in conclusion, the rg rplpo, tbp as well as a nf calculated by genorm software are recommended as references for relative gene quantification in gene profiling studies of single genes in myoblasts under serum-differentiation conditions.
the confirmation of rg by the three software programs is a suitable method to perform an adequate normalization of the mrna input in quantitative pcr experiments.

 the real-time polymerase chain reaction has revolutionized the field of gene expression analysis in living organisms. in comparison to classical semi-quantitative reverse transcription-pcr, the main advantages of qrt-pcr are its higher sensitivity, specificity, and broad quantification range. despite being an extremely powerful technique, qrt-pcr suffers from certain pitfalls, the most important being the normalization with a reliable reference gene, habitually called'housekeeping gene'. the housekeeping term was initially given to genes that are necessary for cell function and being constitutively expressed in each cell type but obviously it would be more precise to call it'reference gene'. rg are often taken from the literature and used across a variety of experimental conditions, some of which may induce differences in the rg own expression under certain conditions. thus, experimental results are highly dependent on the rg gene chosen. if unrecognized, unexpected changes in rg expression could result in erroneous conclusions about real biological effects such as responses to drugs. such errors could be introduced at a number of stages throughout the experimental protocol. therefore, it is critical to correct any errors between samples when measuring rna expression. during the selection of an adequate rg, several indications should be taken into consideration: 1) the expression of the rg must remain constant throughout the intervention; 2) the amplification efficiency of the rg should be similar to that of the genes of interest; and 3) the abundance of the rg should be similar to that of the genes of interest. therefore, appropriate rg validation of internal references is crucial in order to avoid misinterpretations of study findings. if the selected rg fluctuate randomly among samples, then subtle differences between goi will be lost. for example, variation in presumably stable rg was shown in studies examining their expression in serum-stimulated fibroblasts. skeletal muscle tissue engineering aims at the reconstruction of skeletal muscle loss. the field of skeletal muscle tissue engineering has involved to create efficient muscle tissue by using the regenerative potential of stem cells and their potential for proliferation and maturation. the preferred sources of cells for skeletal muscle tissue engineering applications are primary satellite cells. human satellite cells can be successfully extracted and expanded in vitro and differentiated into myofibers using different stimuli. in this context, previous reports have used conventional rg, but there is no data available about the validity of these rg during serum-dependent differentiation of human myoblasts in vitro. our main goi were differentiation markers that have unknown rna expression under experimental conditions. consequently, we could anticipate that differences between the treatments might be small. therefore, it was highly important to find an internal reference with minimal variability. thus, we used qrt-pcr to investigate the levels of six rg expressed in cultured myoblasts. here we report the most suitable rg to detect small variations during the differentiation of myoblasts under certain culture conditions.  differentiation of myoblasts samples indicated various stages of differentiation. we initially verified that our samples truly represented differentiating cells by analyzing the creatine phosphokinase activity level, a well-known and accepted marker of differentiation. rna quality all rna samples were examined as to their concentration, purity, and integrity. rna purity was measured using the nanodrop® spectrophotometer. based on the absorbance ratio at nm/ nm, all rna samples were pure and protein free. the mean a260/ ratio of ± indicated that the rna was free of phenol and ethanol. rna integrity was assessed by the calculation of rin values using the agilent bioanalyzer. differentiated and undifferentiated myoblast samples revealed rin values between and. stability of rg within sample groups first, the efficiencies of every run were calculated using standard curves. the mean of the efficiencies of genes of interest and rg are similar in a range between and. mean of the amplification efficiencies of six reference genes and three genes of interest. efficiency calculation was performed from the slopes of the calibration curve according to the equation e =. abbreviations: rg, reference genes; goi, genes of interest; sem, arithmetic, standard error of the mean; n, number of pcr runs. the stability of the six rg was assessed for each sample group. gene expression levels were measured by qrt-pcr and the expression stabilities were evaluated by the three most commonly used software-based methods: 1- genorm, 2- normfinder and 3-bestkeeper. 1-genorm 2- normfinder candidate reference genes for normalization are listed according to their expression stability calculated by the normfinder program. the analysis of the expression stability was performed taken the expression of the rg from rna samples of myoblasts. the analysis was performed using myoblasts cultured in normal medium, or differentiation medium. additionally, the analysis of the combination of n and d together is shown. *high expression stability is indicated by a low stability value as an estimate of the combined intra- and intergroup variation of the individual gene. se stands for standard error. representative results from three experiments. 3- bestkeeper the results of reference gene evaluation by the bestkeeper tool are shown in table according to the variability observed, rg can be identified as the most stable genes, as they exhibited the lowest coefficient of variance. in this context, we found rplpo, tbp or ppia, with cv ± sd of ±, ± or ±, respectively, to be the most stable reference genes. b2m, actb and gapdh exhibited the highest coefficient of variance with ±, ± or ±, indicating that these were the least stable normfinder rg. however, genes that show a sd higher than should be considered unacceptable. a low sd of the crossing point values should be expected for useful rg. corresponding to the estimation of the sd of the cv, value was highest for actb, gapdh and b2m. this constitutes a reason to exclude these genes from the bestkeeper index calculation, as they are not reliable rg in this setting. the weighted index bestkeeper calculated for the six candidates showed a sd of cp = ± cycles. after the exclusion of gapdh, b2m, and actb from the index, its variation decreased to a figure identical to rplpo. goi expression data are statistically processed with the bestkeeper software in the same way as those of rg, e.g., their gm, am, sd, cv, min. and max. values. according to the variability observed, goi can be identified as well as rg by choosing the most stable genes with the lowest variation, but none of the goi tested showed an acceptable cv ± sd variability. a new version of the bestkeeper tool that also employs non-parametric methods is being prepared by which genes with very different expression levels can be compared. on the other hand, all six rg correlated very well one with another. descriptive statistics of six rg based on their crossing point values. in the two last columns the bestkeeper index is computed together with the same descriptive parameters, either for six genes or for three genes after removal of gapdh, b2m and actb. abbreviations: cv: the coefficient of variance expressed as a percentage on the cp level; sd: the standard deviation of the cp; sd: standard deviation of the absolute regulation coefficients; results from three independent experiments are shown. descriptive statistics of three goi based on their crossing point values. abbreviations: am: the arithmetic mean of cp; cv: the coefficient of variance expressed as a percentage on the cp level; gm: the geometric mean of cp; min and max: the extreme values of cp; min and max: the extreme values of expression levels expressed as an absolute x-fold over- or under-regulation coefficient; n: number of samples; sd: the standard deviation of the cp; sd: standard deviation of the absolute regulation coefficients. results from three independent experiments are shown. evaluation of selected candidate rg and normalization approach following identification of the most stable rg and the normalization factor from the full panel of rg, a method was needed for their evaluation. correlations among the status of the myoblast differentiation and expression of rg and acta myog and myh are shown in table therefore, we expected these observations to be mirrored at the mrna level. more specifically, following treatment with the differentiation medium, a high and significant correlation between the ck activity and the expression of acta myog or myh was found, whereas rplpo, tbp and gapdh showed no significant correlation with ck. however, both positive and negative correlation between gene expression and ck were also found. a significant positive correlation was found between the goi, whereas there was no correlation between rplpo, tbp or gapdh and acta myog or myh however, b2m showed a good correlation. actb has shown a negative correlation with acta and myh but not with myog. pearson's correlation between the state of the myoblast differentiation and expression of the acta myog or myh normalized with nf calculated with rplpo and tbp by genorm and the rg normalized with the same nf. abbreviations: ck: protein kinase activity; n: number of samples; p: significance; r: correlation coefficient. bold italic letters indicate correlation which is not statistically significant. results from three independent experiments are shown. discussion myogenesis of skeletal muscle is a highly complex phenomenon controlled and regulated by multiple intracellular signalling mechanisms. in order to investigate optimal culture conditions and characterization of human myoblasts, we analyzed cell behaviour under different culture media and showed that cultures treated with differentiation medium expressed several characteristic features of mature skeletal muscle. furthermore, in myoblasts cultured with growth medium, certain markers of differentiation were detected, demonstrating that, for an accurate characterization, multiple markers must be analyzed. during skeletal muscle differentiation, mononucleated proliferating myoblasts stop dividing, activate muscle-specific gene expression, and fuse into multinucleated myotubes; these events can produce drastic or small variation in the expression of genes and proteins. markers of differentiation were also detected in cultures treated with non-differentiation medium, but there was no formation of myotubes. in the enzymatic assay of ck, a well-known and accepted marker of differentiation, cultures treated with differentiation medium showed a higher activity, evidencing a higher degree of differentiation. in this context, the strategy used to normalize the mrna with adequate rg is critical. to identify the best rg as normalisers in gene expression studies, several strategies including computer programs have been recommended. the absence of the differential expression or variability of the candidate rg examined is the strongest proof of suitability and stability. therefore, we proposed to use several software programs to analyze six rg and select the rg or normalization factors to correct the rna input. the major result of our study – evaluating six candidate rg in myoblasts under normal and differentiation conditions, during and days of treatment – was that the genes rplpo or tbp were identified by the three independent software programs as suitable rg that did not differ in their expression in differentiated and undifferentiated myoblasts. consequently, only rplpo, identified by genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper software programs fulfils the criterion of expression stability between samples and can be recommended as an accurate normalizer for relative gene quantification in cultured myoblasts. first, the expression of the candidate rg between the respective conditions was compared using an adequate test such as genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper. it can be assumed that genes with significantly different expressions are not suited for target gene normalization, since they are affected by the study condition of interest. thus, those genes should be excluded as normalizers. in the present study, the expression of all genes in the differentiated and undifferentiated myoblast samples showed different grades of variability but the most stable were rplpo and tbp. we used the bestkeeper software to confirm the results obtained by genorm and normfinder. the raw cps analyzed by bestkeeper seem to be good estimators of the expression levels as they are normally distributed and a parametric test can thus be performed. this also gives the cp datasets the gaussian distribution, justifying usage of parametric methods. low numbers of expressed genes where cps were obtained somewhere surely show different variances compared to highly expressed genes with cps. these higher levels of cv and sd invalidate the use of bestkeeper as a reference to normalizing the expression of goi. the correlation analysis of the normalized gene with nf showed a bad correlation between the rg rplpo, tbp or gapdh and the different differentiation markers. in this context, the absence of correlation confirmed that the rg selected by genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper are suitable as reference for the normalization. in addition, we found a significant correlation between b2m or actb and the goi which indicates a variation associated with the differentiation status of the myoblast. thus, they cannot be used as reference genes. two or three genes represent a realistic calculation basis in a common laboratory and the minimum necessary number for a good analysis. rplpo std dev cp is identical to bestkeeper calculated with rplpo, tbp and ppia. in this context, the rg, rplpo and tbp, detected by bestkeeper agree with the best rg detected by genorm and normfinder. the normalization with nf, rplpo or tbp allows measurements of differences in the expression of the differentiation gene-markers between myoblasts treated with differentiation medium or normal medium.  in conclusion, the rg rplpo, tbp as well as a nf calculated by genorm software are recommended as references for relative gene quantification in gene profiling studies of single genes in myoblasts under serum-differentiation conditions. the confirmation of rg by the three software programs is a suitable method to perform an adequate normalization of the mrna input in quantitative pcr experiments. 
analysis of rna expression using real-time pcr traditionally includes reference genes as an internal control. the mrna expression of the following genes of interest were analyzed: skeletal muscle alpha actin, myogenin/myogenic factor, embryonic skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain and the activity of creatine phosphokinase. rna expression analyses including three independent softwares revealed that rplpo, tbp as reference genes or nf calculated by genorm software, are suitable to normalize the mrna expression in myoblast after culture under differentiation conditions. the genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper software programs were used to ascertain the most suitable rg to normalize the rna input. using the genorm program, rplpo and tbp were found to be the most stable genes, additionally a suitable normalization factor was calculated. bestkeeper program also revealed that rplpo and tbp as stable genes, but ppia was the most stable reference gene, whereas gapdh and actb were the worst ranked. the rg were analyzed in human myoblast cultures under differentiation conditions.
 analysis of rna expression using real-time pcr traditionally includes reference genes as an internal control. this practice is being questioned as it becomes increasingly clear that rg may vary considerably under certain experimental conditions. thus, the validity of a particular rg must be determined for each experimental setting. we used qrt-pcr to measure the levels of six rg, which have been reported in the literature to be invariant. the rg were analyzed in human myoblast cultures under differentiation conditions. we examined the expression by qrt-pcr of mrna encoding beta-actin, beta-2-microglobulin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, peptidylprolyl isomerase a, tata box binding protein and ribosomal protein, large, p. the mrna expression of the following genes of interest were analyzed: skeletal muscle alpha actin, myogenin/myogenic factor, embryonic skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain and the activity of creatine phosphokinase. the genorm, normfinder and bestkeeper software programs were used to ascertain the most suitable rg to normalize the rna input.  using the genorm program, rplpo and tbp were found to be the most stable genes, additionally a suitable normalization factor was calculated. the normfinder software showed that rplpo was the most stable, whereas tbp ranked second. bestkeeper program also revealed that rplpo and tbp as stable genes, but ppia was the most stable reference gene, whereas gapdh and actb were the worst ranked.  rna expression analyses including three independent softwares revealed that rplpo, tbp as reference genes or nf calculated by genorm software, are suitable to normalize the mrna expression in myoblast after culture under differentiation conditions. significant correlations can be identified between the differentiations markers acta myog, myh and creatine phosphokinase activity, when the expression is normalized with the nf calculated with rplpo and tbp. 