Abstract
A bioengineered skeletal muscle construct that mimics structural and functional characteristics of native skeletal muscle is a promising therapeutic option to treat extensive muscle defect injuries. We previously showed that bioprinted human skeletal muscle constructs were able to form multi-layered bundles with aligned myofibers. In this study, we investigate the effects of neural cell integration into the bioprinted skeletal muscle construct to accelerate functional muscle regeneration in vivo. Neural input into this bioprinted skeletal muscle construct shows the improvement of myofiber formation, long-term survival, and neuromuscular junction formation in vitro. More importantly, the bioprinted constructs with neural cell integration facilitate rapid innervation and mature into organized muscle tissue that restores normal muscle weight and function in a rodent model of muscle defect injury. These results suggest that the 3D bioprinted human neural-skeletal muscle constructs can be rapidly integrated with the host neural network, resulting in accelerated muscle function restoration.
Highlights
A bioengineered skeletal muscle construct that mimics structural and functional characteristics of native skeletal muscle is a promising therapeutic option to treat extensive muscle defect injuries
To address the issue associated with delayed innervation, we develop human skeletal muscle constructs with neural cell integration by bioprinting human muscle progenitor cells and human neural stem cells
Intracellular calcium in the MPC + NSC group compared with the MPC only group (Supplementary Fig. 4). These results indicated that the bioprinted skeletal muscle constructs with human neural stem cells (hNSCs) (MPC + NSC group) showed an increase in cell survival, muscle differentiation and maturation, and innervation potential based on Acetylcholine receptor (AChR) pre-patterning and neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) formation, compared with the MPC only group
Summary
A bioengineered skeletal muscle construct that mimics structural and functional characteristics of native skeletal muscle is a promising therapeutic option to treat extensive muscle defect injuries. We investigate the effects of neural cell integration into the bioprinted skeletal muscle construct to accelerate functional muscle regeneration in vivo Neural input into this bioprinted skeletal muscle construct shows the improvement of myofiber formation, long-term survival, and neuromuscular junction formation in vitro. The bioprinted constructs with neural cell integration facilitate rapid innervation and mature into organized muscle tissue that restores normal muscle weight and function in a rodent model of muscle defect injury. These results suggest that the 3D bioprinted human neural-skeletal muscle constructs can be rapidly integrated with the host neural network, resulting in accelerated muscle function restoration. Muscle atrophy and failure of functional recovery will occur
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
