Myogenic Tissue Regeneration: A New Insight

Abstract

Till today, the conventional therapeutic techniques are used to cure many muscle tissue related diseases. With the advent of modern science and technology, Tissue Engineering (TE) has evolved as a novel means to repair and regenerate different tissues. Recently graphene and graphene based composites are emerging as better materials compared to the conventional biopolymers to fabricate scaffolds for skeletal muscle TE and other biomedical applications. Addition of graphene oxide (GO) nanoplatelets (GOnPs) in bioactive polymers was found to enhance enhanced conductivity (σ) as well as dielectric permittivity (ε) of the scaffolds, due to the presence of GO surface charge, which enhance biocompatibility of the scaffolds. In the thesis work, for the first time, human Umbilical Cord Blood (UBC) derived mesenchymal stem cells (CB-hMSCs) were reported to directly differentiate to skeletal muscle cells (hSkMCs) on spin coated thin GO sheets, composed of GOnPs, and on electrospun fibrous meshes of GO–polymer (poly-caprolactone, PCL and poly lactic co-glycolic acid, PLGA)) composite meshes. These substrates exhibited excellent myoblast differentiations and promoted self-aligned myotubes formation similar to natural orientation. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman, infrared (vibration spectroscopic) etc. studies were carried out for the characterizations of GO sheet and the composite scaffolds. Significantly enhanced values of both conductivity and dielectric constant of the GO–Polymer composites attributed to the GO surface charge which provided favorable cues for the formation of superior cellular interaction and formation of multinucleated myotubes on the electrospun meshes. The present results demonstrated that such novel GO based polymer composite substrates might be used as potential candidates for the myoblast differentiation and proliferation of CB-hMSCs for the next generation skeletal muscle tissue repair and regeneration.