Microfluidic generation of bioinspired core–shell structured microfibers for cultured meat

Abstract

The simulation of traditional meat characteristics is critical to cultured meat production. We propose bioinspired microfibers with solidified alginate shells and porcine muscle stem cell (PMSC) loaded hydrogel cores. The core–shell structure not only provide a spatially confined environment for directional cell alignment, but also enable the design of a soft hydrogel core to facilitate cell migration and mutual fusion. The myogenic differentiation and muscle protein synthesis of PMSCs in microfibers are thus significantly promoted, which even lead to the spontaneous contraction of cellular microfibers. Microfibers are assembled into bulk cultured meat tissues by integrating the microfluidics and 3D printing technologies. Benefiting from the efficient cell myogenesis, the appearance, texture, and protein composition of the constructed cultured meat are similar to those of native pork. By combining multiple microfluidic devices into the printing system, the simultaneous printing of multiple pieces of cultured meat can be realized as well. These features show the broad prospect of the proposed microfibers in efficient and large-scale production of cultured meat with traditional meat characteristics.