Vascularization of tissue-engineered skeletal muscle constructs.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Skeletal muscle tissue can be engineered in vitro using muscle stem cells, forming three-dimensional constructs known as myooids.
• Current myooid engineering methods, despite decades of research and diverse cell/scaffold evaluations, result in constructs limited to <1 mm thickness due to diffusion constraints for nutrient supply and waste removal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a concise overview of proposed approaches for developing functional vascular structures within engineered skeletal muscle organoids (myooids).

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature and proposed strategies for vascularizing in vitro skeletal muscle constructs.
• Analysis of different cell types and scaffold materials used in myooid engineering.
• Evaluation of methods aimed at overcoming diffusion limitations in engineered tissues.

Main Results:

• The lack of integrated vascular networks is a primary limitation in current in vitro skeletal muscle organoid development, restricting construct size.
• Various strategies have been proposed to incorporate vascular structures into myooids.
• This review consolidates and summarizes these vascularization approaches.

Conclusions:

• Developing functional vascularization is crucial for advancing the scale and complexity of engineered skeletal muscle tissue.
• Addressing the vascularization challenge is critical not only for myooids but also for the broader field of organoid systems.
• Future research should focus on implementing and optimizing these vascularization techniques for enhanced skeletal muscle tissue engineering.