One of the obstacles to the potential clinical utility of bioengineered skeletal muscle is its limited force generation capacity. Since engineered muscle, unlike most native muscle tissue, is composed of relatively short myofibers, we hypothesized that its force production and transmission would be profoundly influenced by cell-matrix interactions. To test this hypothesis, we systematically varied the matrix protein type (collagen I/fibrin/Matrigel) and concentration in engineered, hydrogelbased neonatal rat skeletal muscle bundles and assessed the resulting tissue structure, generation of contractile force, and intracellular Ca 2+ handling. After two weeks of culture, the muscle bundles consisted of highly aligned and cross-striated myofibers and exhibited standard force-length and force-frequency relationships achieving tetanus at 40 Hz. The use of 2 mg/ml fibrin (control) yielded isometric tetanus amplitude of 1.4±0.3 mN as compared to 0.9±0.4 mN measured in collagen I-based bundles. Higher fibrin and Matrigel concentrations synergistically yielded further increase in active force generation to 2.8±0.5 mN without significantly affecting passive mechanical properties, tetanus-to-twitch ratio, and twitch kinetics. Optimized matrix composition yielded significant cellular hypertrophy (protein/DNA ratio=11.4±4.1 vs. 6.5±1.9 μg/μg in control) and a prolonged Ca 2+ transient half-width (Ca 50 =232.8±33.3 vs. 101.7±19.8 ms). The use of growth-factor-reduced Matrigel instead of standard Matrigel did not alter the obtained results suggesting enhanced cell-matrix interactions rather than growth factor supplementation as an underlying cause for the measured increase in contractile force. In summary, biomaterial-based manipulation of cell-matrix interactions represents an important target for improving contractile force generation in engineered skeletal muscle.

The engineering of functional skeletal muscle tissue substitutes holds promise for the treatment of various muscular diseases and injuries. However, no tissue fabrication technology currently exists for the generation of a relatively large and thick bioartificial muscle made of densely packed, uniformly aligned, and differentiated myofibers. In this study, we describe a versatile cell/hydrogel micromolding approach where polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) molds containing an array of elongated posts were used to fabricate relatively large neonatal rat skeletal muscle tissue networks with reproducible and controllable architecture. By combining cell-mediated fibrin gel compaction and precise microfabrication of mold dimensions including the length and height of the PDMS posts, we were able to simultaneously support high cell viability, guide cell alignment along the microfabricated tissue pores, and reproducibly control the overall tissue porosity, size, and thickness. The interconnected muscle bundles within the porous tissue networks were composed of densely packed, aligned, and highly differentiated myofibers. The formed myofibers expressed myogenin, developed abundant cross-striations, and generated spontaneous tissue contractions at the macroscopic spatial scale. The proliferation of non-muscle cells was significantly reduced compared to monolayer cultures. The more complex muscle tissue architectures were fabricated by controlling the spatial distribution and direction of the PDMS posts.

This protocol describes a cell/hydrogel molding method for precise and reproducible biomimetic fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) muscle tissue architectures in vitro. Using a high aspect ratio soft lithography technique, we fabricate polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) molds containing arrays of mesoscopic posts with defined size, elongation and spacing. On cell/hydrogel molding, these posts serve to enhance the diffusion of nutrients to cells by introducing elliptical pores in the cell-laden hydrogels and to guide local 3D cell alignment by governing the spatial pattern of mechanical tension. Instead of ultraviolet or chemical cross-linking, this method utilizes natural hydrogel polymerization and topographically constrained cell-mediated gel compaction to create the desired 3D tissue structures. We apply this method to fabricate several square centimeter large, few hundred micron-thick bioartificial muscle tissues composed of viable, dense, uniformly aligned and highly differentiated cardiac or skeletal muscle fibers. The protocol takes 4–5 d to fabricate PDMS molds followed by 2 weeks of cell culture.

The ability to control the degree of structural and functional anisotropy in 3D engineered cardiac tissues would have high utility for both in vitro studies of cardiac muscle physiology and pathology as well as potential tissue engineering therapies for myocardial infarction. Here, we applied a high aspect ratio soft lithography technique to generate network-like tissue patches seeded with neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Fabricating longer elliptical pores within the patch networks increased the overall cardiomyocyte and extracellular matrix (ECM) alignment within the patch. Improved uniformity of cell and matrix alignment yielded an increase in anisotropy of action potential propagation and faster longitudinal conduction velocity (LCV). Cardiac tissue patches with a higher degree of cardiomyocyte alignment and electrical anisotropy also demonstrated greater isometric twitch forces. After two weeks of culture, specific measures of electrical and contractile function (LCV = 26.8 ± 0.8 cm/s, specific twitch force = 8.9 ± 1.1 mN/mm2 for the longest pores studied) were comparable to those of neonatal rat myocardium. We have thus described methodology for engineering of highly functional 3D engineered cardiac tissues with controllable degree of anisotropy.

Complex three-dimensional (3-D) heart structure is an important determinant of cardiac electrical and mechanical function. In this study, we set to develop a versatile tissue-engineered system that can promote important aspects of cardiac functional maturation and reproduce variations in myofiber directions present in native ventricular epicardium. We cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes within a 3-D hydrogel environment using microfabricated elastomeric molds with hexagonal posts. By varying individual post orientations along the directions derived from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI) maps of human ventricle, we created large (2.5 × 2.5 cm2) 3-D cardiac tissue patches with cardiomyocyte alignment that replicated human epicardial fiber orientations. After 3 weeks of culture, the advanced structural and functional maturation of the engineered 3-D cardiac tissues compared to age-matched 2-D monolayers was evident from: 1) the presence of dense, aligned and electromechanically-coupled cardiomyocytes, quiescent fibroblasts, and interspersed capillary-like structures, 2) action potential propagation with near-adult conduction velocity and directional dependence on local cardiomyocyte orientation, and 3) robust formation of T-tubules aligned with Z-disks, co-localization of L-type Ca2+ channels and ryanodine receptors, and accelerated Ca2+ transient kinetics. This biomimetic tissue-engineered platform can enable systematic in vitro studies of cardiac structure-function relationships and promote the development of advanced tissue engineering strategies for cardiac repair and regeneration.