Naringenin Promotes Myotube Formation and Maturation for Cultured Meat Production

Cultured meat is an emerging technology for manufacturing meat through cell culture rather than animal rearing. Under most existing culture systems, the content and maturity of in vitro generated myotubes are insufficient, limiting the application and public acceptance of cultured meat. Here we demonstrated that a natural compound, naringenin (NAR), promoted myogenic differentiation of porcine satellite cells (PSCs) in vitro and increased the content and maturity of generated myotubes, especially for PSCs that had undergone extensive expansion. Mechanistically, NAR upregulated the IGF-1/AKT/mTOR anabolic pathway during the myogenesis of PSCs by activating the estrogen receptor β. Moreover, PSCs were mixed with hydrogels and cultured in a mold with parallel micro-channels to manufacture cultured pork samples. More mature myosin was detected, and obvious sarcomere was observed when the differentiation medium was supplemented with NAR. Taken together, these findings suggested that NAR induced the differentiation of PSCs and generation of mature myotubes through upregulation of the IGF-1 signaling, contributing to the development of efficient and innovative cultured meat production systems.