Scalable 3D Printed Molds for Human Tissue Engineered Skeletal Muscle

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Tissue Engineering
• Skeletal Muscle Physiology

Background:

• Current tissue-engineered skeletal muscle models face limitations in throughput due to donor variability and cellular senescence.
• Existing models often lack reproducibility and scalability, hindering translation across laboratories.
• There is a need for cost-effective, high-content primary human tissue models that mimic in vivo characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a reproducible and scalable method for generating tissue-engineered primary human skeletal muscle.
• To create a model that overcomes limitations of current approaches, enabling high-throughput screening.
• To fabricate muscle constructs with aligned, mature myotubes resembling in vivo tissue.

Main Methods:

• Utilized fused deposition modeling (FDM) and laser sintering (3D printing) techniques.
• Developed a scalable fabrication process for construct volumes ranging from 25-500 microL.
• Focused on using primary human tissue to generate mature myotubes.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated reproducible and scalable tissue-engineered primary human muscle constructs.
• Achieved aligned, mature myotubes in the fabricated muscle tissue, mimicking in vivo conditions.
• Demonstrated a strategy to overcome limited biopsy cell numbers for enhanced throughput.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D printing method provides a scalable and reproducible platform for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.
• This approach enables high-throughput screening of functional human tissue, advancing the study of muscle pathology.
• The fabricated models offer a promising alternative to current limitations, facilitating research into skeletal muscle diseases and therapies.