Tissue Engineering Skeletal Muscle

Abstract

In vitro tissue engineering of skeletal muscle involves culturing myogenic cells in an environment that emulates the in vivo environment so that the cells proliferate, fuse, organize in three dimensions, and differentiate into functional skeletal muscle. The tissue engineer uses a multitude of in vitro environmental cues to direct the proliferation process. The end result will be a skeletal muscle construct that resembles skeletal muscle in both form and function. The construct will be organized like a skeletal muscle, with long multinucleated cells oriented parallel to its long axis, and the construct will be capable of generating useful directed force and power. Such constructs have been developed from avian, rodent, and human primary muscle cells as well as immortalized myogenic cells. Measurements and characterization of the construct’s biochemical and contractile functions have begun. Use of these early generation constructs for basic science research, as implantable therapeutic protein delivery devices, and as drug screening constructs are moving forward. Skeletal muscle constructs will likely be implanted into humans as sources of secreted proteins in the near future, and will no doubt one day replace muscle contractile function in patients with functional deficits in force and power generation.