The advent of cell reprogramming technology provides a powerful tool for individualized medicine. Creative Bioarray is committed to the development of iPSCs-based skeletal muscle tissue engineering to help clients develop optimal therapeutic approaches to restore or repair injured or degenerated tissues. We are well-positioned to provide our customers with the best experimental solutions.
Background
Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body and is involved in a variety of dynamic functions of the living organism, such as locomotion as well as other metabolic functions. Although skeletal muscle shows a remarkable ability to regenerate after minor injuries such as sprains and tears, this repair process does not always occur correctly. In diseases such as volumetric muscle loss (VML) and muscle degenerative diseases including sarcopenia and muscular dystrophies, the inefficient regeneration of tissues leads to a significant decrease in skeletal muscle mass.
Currently, bioengineered muscle tissue is considered to be great hope in the field of regenerative medicine. Therefore the development of new strategies in tissue engineering is crucial to explore the best therapeutic approaches for these diseases. Excitingly, skeletal muscle tissue engineering based on iPSCs promises great breakthroughs in the field of personalized and regenerative medicine.
Fig.1 Schematic representation of the three main pillars of skeletal muscle tissue engineering based on iPSCs. (Del Carmen Ortuño-Costela, 2019)
Solutions for Skeletal Muscle Tissue Engineering based on Cell Reprogramming
Tissue engineering represents an appropriate alternative for restoring damaged skeletal muscle tissue. In order to design muscle structures, researchers at Creative Bioarray focus on three main pillars: scaffolds, defined cell populations and bioactive agents. We are committed to developing in vitro tissue engineering strategies and offer our clients the following solutions:
- Designing a suitable scaffold. In order to obtain an engineered muscle tissue similar to the natural one, we help our clients to design and manufacture the right scaffolds with biocompatible, biodegradable, bioactive as well as mechanical properties.
- We offer two strategies to implement iPSCs into this technology:
- Direct seeding onto the scaffolds to promote their differentiation.
- Seeding of myogenic precursors generated from these iPSCs to complete the differentiation process on the 3D environment.
- We add bioactive factors, as well as perform mechanical or electrical stimulation to achieve vascularization and innervation in the constructs.
Applications
- Generation of 3D models for studying the physiopathology of some diseases
- High-throughput drug screenings
- Development a promising option to avoid the problems caused by transplants
With a state-of-the-art experimental platform and a dedicated research team, Creative Bioarray is committed to developing iPSC-based skeletal muscle tissue engineering and providing efficient technical support and rational solutions for our clients in their relevant research projects. Please contact us to discuss further details.
Reference
- Del Carmen Ortuño-Costela, M.; et al. iPSCs: A powerful tool for skeletal muscle tissue engineering. Journal of cellular and molecular medicine. 2019, 23(6): 3784-3794.