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Morphology and functionality in biomimetic cultured meat produced from various cellular origins
Azumi Yoshida1, Hironobu Takahashi1, Tatsuya Shimizu1
1Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.
Biomaterials Advances
|January 14, 2025
Summary
Investigating swine muscle cell sources for cultured meat revealed that while cells from different cuts proliferate similarly, they exhibit site-specific differentiation. This finding is crucial for tailoring cultured meat production for diverse market needs.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Biotechnology
- Food Science
Background:
- Alternative meat production, including cultured meat, addresses ethical, environmental, and public health concerns of conventional meat.
- Cultured meat relies on cell sources from livestock, but optimal cell source selection remains unstudied.
- Previous work established a method for bovine myogenic cell collection from cheek meat for cultured beef.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of different swine muscle cuts (cheek, loin, ham) as cell sources for cultured meat.
- To understand how to best select muscle cell sources for producing cultured meat on demand.
- To investigate the proliferation, differentiation, and tissue maturation characteristics of myogenic cells from various swine muscle sites.
Main Methods:
- Harvesting myogenic cells from three distinct swine muscle cuts: cheek, loin, and ham.
- Culturing cells in 2D to assess proliferation and myogenic marker expression (MyoD, Myf5).
- Utilizing tissue engineering to produce biomimetic muscle tissues and evaluating differentiation and maturation in vitro.
Main Results:
- Swine myogenic cells from cheek, loin, and ham proliferated similarly and maintained myogenic marker expression during passages.
- All cell types demonstrated comparable initial differentiation into myotubes in vitro.
- While all cell types formed contractile tissues, myogenic cells from ham produced significantly thicker myofibers during maturation, indicating site-specific differentiation.
Conclusions:
- Swine myogenic cells from different muscle cuts exhibit fundamental similarities in proliferation and early differentiation but show site-specific characteristics in later maturation.
- The study successfully produced contractile, biomimetic muscle tissues from all tested swine myogenic cell types.
- These findings are vital for the selective production of diverse cultured meat products, paving the way for cultured meat as a conventional alternative.
