Effect of Grape Seed Extract on Gelatin-Based Edible 3D-Hydrogels for Cultured Meat Application

Cell-cultured meat, which is artificial meat made by in vitro cultivation of animal-derived cells, has attracted a lot of interest as a potential source of protein in the future. Porous hydrogels are crucial components that can be used as an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) to provide cell growth for generating cultured meat. In this study, we highlight the effects of grape seed extract (proanthocyanidins, PC) on the physicochemical and biological functions (bovine satellite muscle cell (BSC) growth and adhesion) of an edible gelatin (GL)-based hydrogel. The freeze-dried hydrogels had good compressive characteristics with pore sizes ranging from 100 to 300 μm. BSCs were able to grow and attach to porous GL-PC hydrogels. These studies suggested that the developed hydrogels using edible materials and made by employing a low-cost method may serve in the cell growth of muscle cells for cultured meat applications.