Skeletal muscle tissue is one of the tissues in the body with regenerative capacity. After an injury to skeletal muscle tissue, endogenous muscle stem cells, called satellite cells, are activated to repair the lost muscle fibers. However, in cases of major trauma or other causes such as facial paralysis, replacement with muscle tissue is required. Regenerative medicine essentially mimics physiological muscle development, albeit on a larger scale.
Skeletal muscles have a highly organized architecture consisting of parallel bundles of muscle fibers made up of multiple contracting myotubes. Myotubes are fused cells with multiple cell nuclei that originate from the fusion of activated muscle cells, myoblasts. Functionally, contractile skeletal muscle tissue is innervated by motor neurons and supplied with blood by a vascular network, while myofibers and muscles are bounded by connective tissue (fasciculus). Using the BiomACS screening platform, we have enabled the parallel alignment of muscle (sub)structures via topography-guided tissue engineering. Manipulation of surface topography facilitates the alignment and differentiation of myoblasts into skeletal muscle myotubes.
Publications:
- Almonacid Suarez, A. M., Zhou, Q., van Rijn, P., & Harmsen, M. C. (2019). Directional topography gradients drive optimum alignment and differentiation of human myoblasts. Journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine , 13(12), 2234-2245.
- Almonacid Suarez, A. M., Brinker, M. G., Brouwer, L. A., van der Ham, I., Harmsen, M. C., & van Rijn, P. (2020). Topography-mediated myotube and endothelial alignment, differentiation, and extracellular matrix organization for skeletal muscle engineering. Polymers, 12(9), 1948.