Tissue-Engineered Skeletal Muscle Models to Study Muscle Function, Plasticity, and Disease.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Skeletal Muscle Physiology
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Skeletal muscle exhibits significant plasticity in response to various stimuli, including exercise and disease.
• Small animal models have limitations in accurately replicating human muscle diseases, hindering therapeutic translation.
• In vitro three-dimensional (3D) tissue-engineered skeletal muscle models are emerging as a powerful research tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the potential of 3D in vitro skeletal muscle models for studying muscle function, plasticity, and disease.
• To evaluate the capacity of these models to investigate muscle fiber-type regulation.
• To assess their utility in patient-specific disease modeling, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and volumetric muscle loss.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of the generation and functional characterization of in vitro skeletal muscle models.
• Review of in vivo factors (genetic, neural, hormonal) regulating skeletal muscle fiber-type.
• Evaluation of current in vitro models' ability to recapitulate these regulatory mechanisms.

Main Results:

• In vitro skeletal muscle models demonstrate potential for studying muscle adaptation and plasticity.
• These models can be explored for investigating muscle fiber-type regulation.
• Patient-specific models hold promise for accurately modeling human muscle diseases.

Conclusions:

• 3D tissue-engineered skeletal muscle models offer a more biomimetic platform than traditional small animal models.
• These models can provide novel insights into muscle physiology and diseases like DMD.
• Further development is needed to enhance model maturity and biomimicry for broader clinical application.