Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis

Large skeletal muscle injuries such as volumetric muscle loss (VML) disrupt native tissue structures, including biophysical and biochemical signaling cues that promote the regeneration of functional skeletal muscle. Various biofabrication strategies have been developed to create engineered skeletal...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hanson S. Lee, Bryanna L. Samolyk, George D. Pins
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Functional Biomaterials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4983/16/1/21
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832588280056512512
author Hanson S. Lee
Bryanna L. Samolyk
George D. Pins
author_facet Hanson S. Lee
Bryanna L. Samolyk
George D. Pins
author_sort Hanson S. Lee
collection DOAJ
description Large skeletal muscle injuries such as volumetric muscle loss (VML) disrupt native tissue structures, including biophysical and biochemical signaling cues that promote the regeneration of functional skeletal muscle. Various biofabrication strategies have been developed to create engineered skeletal muscle constructs that mimic native matrix and cellular microenvironments to enhance muscle regeneration; however, there remains a need to create scalable engineered tissues that provide mechanical stability as well as structural and spatiotemporal signaling cues to promote cell-mediated regeneration of contractile skeletal muscle. We describe a novel strategy for bioprinting multifunctional myoblast-loaded fibrin microthreads (myothreads) that recapitulate the cellular microniches to drive myogenesis and aligned myotube formation. We characterized myoblast alignment, myotube formation, and tensile properties of myothreads as a function of cell-loading density and culture time. We showed that increasing myoblast loading densities enhances myotube formation. Additionally, alignment analyses indicate that the bioprinting process confers myoblast alignment in the constructs. Finally, tensile characterizations suggest that myothreads possess the structural stability to serve as a potential platform for developing scalable muscle scaffolds. We anticipate that our myothread biofabrication approach will enable us to strategically investigate biophysical and biochemical signaling cues and cellular mechanisms that enhance functional skeletal muscle regeneration for the treatment of VML.
format Article
id doaj-art-72208232124d49c0ad9041de045de044
institution Kabale University
issn 2079-4983
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Journal of Functional Biomaterials
spelling doaj-art-72208232124d49c0ad9041de045de0442025-01-24T13:36:09ZengMDPI AGJournal of Functional Biomaterials2079-49832025-01-011612110.3390/jfb16010021Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce MyogenesisHanson S. Lee0Bryanna L. Samolyk1George D. Pins2Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USALarge skeletal muscle injuries such as volumetric muscle loss (VML) disrupt native tissue structures, including biophysical and biochemical signaling cues that promote the regeneration of functional skeletal muscle. Various biofabrication strategies have been developed to create engineered skeletal muscle constructs that mimic native matrix and cellular microenvironments to enhance muscle regeneration; however, there remains a need to create scalable engineered tissues that provide mechanical stability as well as structural and spatiotemporal signaling cues to promote cell-mediated regeneration of contractile skeletal muscle. We describe a novel strategy for bioprinting multifunctional myoblast-loaded fibrin microthreads (myothreads) that recapitulate the cellular microniches to drive myogenesis and aligned myotube formation. We characterized myoblast alignment, myotube formation, and tensile properties of myothreads as a function of cell-loading density and culture time. We showed that increasing myoblast loading densities enhances myotube formation. Additionally, alignment analyses indicate that the bioprinting process confers myoblast alignment in the constructs. Finally, tensile characterizations suggest that myothreads possess the structural stability to serve as a potential platform for developing scalable muscle scaffolds. We anticipate that our myothread biofabrication approach will enable us to strategically investigate biophysical and biochemical signaling cues and cellular mechanisms that enhance functional skeletal muscle regeneration for the treatment of VML.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4983/16/1/21fibrin microthreadsbioprintingcell alignmentmyotube formationvolumetric muscle lossskeletal muscle
spellingShingle Hanson S. Lee
Bryanna L. Samolyk
George D. Pins
Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
Journal of Functional Biomaterials
fibrin microthreads
bioprinting
cell alignment
myotube formation
volumetric muscle loss
skeletal muscle
title Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
title_full Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
title_fullStr Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
title_full_unstemmed Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
title_short Extrusion-Based Printing of Myoblast-Loaded Fibrin Microthreads to Induce Myogenesis
title_sort extrusion based printing of myoblast loaded fibrin microthreads to induce myogenesis
topic fibrin microthreads
bioprinting
cell alignment
myotube formation
volumetric muscle loss
skeletal muscle
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4983/16/1/21
work_keys_str_mv AT hansonslee extrusionbasedprintingofmyoblastloadedfibrinmicrothreadstoinducemyogenesis
AT bryannalsamolyk extrusionbasedprintingofmyoblastloadedfibrinmicrothreadstoinducemyogenesis
AT georgedpins extrusionbasedprintingofmyoblastloadedfibrinmicrothreadstoinducemyogenesis