Sara Hinds, MS - MS GraduateEngineered bioartificial skeletal muscle tissue is a promising reconstructive option for muscle defects, which can occur as a consequence of a variety of myopathies. My research is aimed to improve the contractile functionality of engineered muscle by manipulation of biochemical and biophysical cues. Our method for preparing engineered muscle involves embedding primary neonatal rat skeletal myoblasts in a fibrin-Matrigel hydrogel then injecting the cell/gel mixture into a tube mold with two surrogate tendon anchor sites at polar ends of the tissue vessel. The composition of the hydrogel matrix is varied in an attempt to potentiate the force production of the resulting muscle bundles by tailoring the microenvironment of differentiating myoblast. Intracellular calcium handling, protein/DNA ratios, and histology are used to further characterize the muscle bundles and embedded myofibers. Additionally, I am working on developing an in vitro biomimetic environment, including exogenous growth factors and electrical stimulation, which should further muscle development by harmonizing the integrated cellular response within the engineered muscle bundles.
Figure 1. Morphology of 3D bioartificial muscle bundles: A) Muscle bundle on culture
day 14 when bundles are functionally assessed. B) H&E stained longitudinal section, arrows show multinucleated fused myotubes on bundle periphery. C1,2) Representative immunofluorescence image showing densely packed and highly aligned multinucleated nSKM myotubes with ubiquitous striations.
Figure 2. Functionality of 3D bioartificial muscle bundles: Representative active force trace demonstrating contraction summation beginning at 10 Hz with fused tetanus at 50 Hz.Back to Personnel