4D anisotropic skeletal muscle tissue constructs fabricated by staircase effect strategy

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering aims to fabricate tissue constructs to replace or restore diseased or injured skeletal muscle tissues in the body. Several biomaterials and microscale technologies have been used in muscle tissue engineering. However, it is still challenging to mimic the function and structure of the native muscle tissues. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a powerful tool to mimic the hierarchical structure of native tissues. Here, 3D bioprinting was used to fabricate tissue constructs using gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA)-alginate bioinks. Mechanical and rheological properties of GelMA-alginate hydrogels were characterized. C2C12 myoblasts at the density 8 × 106 cells/mL were used as the cell model. The effects of alginate concentration (0, 6, and 8% (w/v)) and crosslinking mechanism (UV crosslinking or ionic crosslinking with UV crosslinking) on printability, cell viability, proliferation, and differentiation of bioinks were studied. The results showed that 10% (w/v) GelMA-8% (w/v) alginate crosslinked using UV light and 0.1 M CaCl2 provided the optimum niche to induce muscle tissue formation compared to other hydrogel compositions. Furthermore, metabolic activity of cells in GelMA bioinks was improved by addition of oxygen-generating particles to the bioinks. It is hoped that such bioprinted muscle tissues may find wide applications in drug screening and tissue regeneration.

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Bioengineered Fascicle-Like Skeletal Muscle Tissue Constructs

ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/sbc2012-80228 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Devin Neal ◽

Mahmut Selman Sakar ◽

H. Harry Asada

Keyword(s):

Skeletal Muscle ◽

Cell Density ◽

Muscle Cell ◽

Muscle Tissue ◽

Skeletal Muscle Tissue ◽

Muscle Injuries ◽

Tissue Constructs

Tissue engineered skeletal muscle constructs have and will continue to be valuable in treating, and testing various muscle injuries and diseases. However a significant drawback to numerous methods of producing 3D skeletal muscle constructs grown in vitro is that muscle cell density as a fraction of total volume or mass, is often significantly lower than muscle found in vivo. Therefore a method to increase muscle cell density within a construct is needed.

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Recycled algae-based carbon materials as electroconductive 3D printed skeletal muscle tissue engineering scaffolds

Journal of Materials Science Materials in Medicine ◽

10.1007/s10856-021-06534-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 32 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Selva Bilge ◽

Emre Ergene ◽

Ebru Talak ◽

Seyda Gokyer ◽

Yusuf Osman Donar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skeletal Muscle ◽

Tissue Engineering ◽

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Muscle Tissue ◽

Carbonaceous Material ◽

Hydrothermal Carbonization ◽

Skeletal Muscle Tissue ◽

Myotube Formation ◽

3D Printed

AbstractSkeletal muscle is an electrically and mechanically active tissue that contains highly oriented, densely packed myofibrils. The tissue has self-regeneration capacity upon injury, which is limited in the cases of volumetric muscle loss. Several regenerative therapies have been developed in order to enhance this capacity, as well as to structurally and mechanically support the defect site during regeneration. Among them, biomimetic approaches that recapitulate the native microenvironment of the tissue in terms of parallel-aligned structure and biophysical signals were shown to be effective. In this study, we have developed 3D printed aligned and electrically active scaffolds in which the electrical conductivity was provided by carbonaceous material (CM) derived from algae-based biomass. The synthesis of this conductive and functional CM consisted of eco-friendly synthesis procedure such as pre-carbonization and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) catalysis. CM obtained from biomass via hydrothermal carbonization (CM-03) and its ash form (CM-03K) were doped within poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) matrix and 3D printed to form scaffolds with aligned fibers for structural biomimicry. Scaffolds were seeded with C2C12 mouse myoblasts and subjected to electrical stimulation during the in vitro culture. Enhanced myotube formation was observed in electroactive groups compared to their non-conductive counterparts and it was observed that myotube formation and myotube maturity were significantly increased for CM-03 group after electrical stimulation. The results have therefore showed that the CM obtained from macroalgae biomass is a promising novel source for the production of the electrically conductive scaffolds for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

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