Bioreactors for Guiding Muscle Tissue Growth and Development

Abstract

Muscle tissue bioreactors are devices which are employed to guide and monitor the development of engineered muscle tissue. These devices have a modern history that can be traced back more than a century, because the key elements of muscle tissue bioreactors have been studied for a very long time. These include barrier isolation and culture of cells, tissues and organs after isolation from a host organism; the provision of various stimuli intended to promote growth and maintain the muscle, such as electrical and mechanical stimulation; and the provision of a perfusate such as culture media or blood derived substances. An accurate appraisal of our current progress in the development of muscle bioreactors can only be made in the context of the history of this endeavor. Modern efforts tend to focus more upon the use of computer control and the application of mechanical strain as a stimulus, as well as substrate surface modifications to induce cellular organization at the early stages of culture of isolated muscle cells.

Effects of Dexamethasone on Satellite Cells and Tissue Engineered Skeletal Muscle Units

“…6,7 Following sufficient recovery time, engineered skeletal muscles implanted into an in vivo regenerative environment have advanced toward the adult phenotype, 8,9 and several studies have attempted to utilize key chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve the maturity of these engineered muscles in vitro. 10,11 Tissue engineers have used the influence of such growth factors on myogenesis to direct techniques for engineering skeletal muscle. Current tissue engineering techniques utilize scaffold materials, ranging from acellularized tissues 12,13 to collagen and fibrin hydrogels, 3,6,14 or opt for a scaffold-free approach 7,9,15 to support development of extracellular matrix (ECM) for subsequent muscle tissue.…”

Cultured Meat: Meat Industry Hand in Hand with Biomedical Production Methods

“…Animal cell culture has its roots in cell-based therapy, which has become viable on a commercial level and thus provides important guidelines for the transfer of cultured meat technologies to the industrial scale (Specht et al 2018). It is generally believed that a sufficiently advanced tissue bioreactor system will enable the development, growth, and maintenance of mature living muscle (Dennis et al 2009). For the most part, some basic functions are common to many tissue engineering bioreactors: (1) maintaining an aseptic environment, (2) controlling environmental parameters such as temperature and pH, (3) controlling nutrient delivery, and (4) offering controlled experimental interventions, including online sensors.…”

Bioreactor Design for Tendon/Ligament Engineering

“…Bioreactors for tendon/ligament engineering are different to the systems that have been used in various other tissueengineering fields in the past decades, that is, systems for the muscle, 72 liver, 73 and bone. 74,75 Compared to other bioreactors, the main task of the bioreactor for tendon/ligament engineering is to provide the proper biomechanical and biochemical environment specific to tendon/ligament formation.…”