Ultrafast Micrometric Laser Structuring of Polymer Surfaces for Highly Organized Skeletal Muscle Tissue Modeling

Engineered surface topographies have proven to be an efficient method to replicate in vitro the architecture of highly organized tissues by controlling the spatial arrangement of cells. In this work, we studied the ability to guide muscle cell development using femtosecond-laser-induced topography on standard culture plates. This technique allows the creation of highly porous microstructured channels that exhibit strong hydrophobicity while offering mechanical cues for cell guidance. We characterized the resulting engineered surfaces by assessing their capacity to direct cellular organization. Myoblasts cultured on laser-structured (LS) surfaces generated more mature myotubes exhibiting enhanced alignment and elongation compared with those cultured on standard plates. We applied the LS surfaces as a proof-of-concept approach to characterize myotube morphology in two common myopathies, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. The superior organization of the myotubes enabled a more accurate assessment at the single-fiber level, revealing disease-specific phenotypes. Here, we present the characterization and validation of an accessible, rapid, and reliable laser-based method for generating micrometric topographies on standard culture plates tailored to skeletal muscle. The effectiveness and versatility of LS supports provide initial evidence for their use in disease modelling and support their future application in therapeutic screening and personalized medicine.