TISSUE-ENGINEERED SKELETAL MUSCLE: PRELIMINARY STUDIES FOR IN VIVO TRANSPLANTATION

Contractile, tissue-engineered skeletal muscle would be a significant benefit to patients with muscle deficits secondary to congenital anomalies, trauma, or surgery. For the reconstructive interventions, tissue-engineered skeletal muscle may offer reduced donor-site morbidity and unlimited supply of tissue. Obvious limitations to this approach are the complexity of the musculature, composed of multiple tissues intimately intermingled and functionally interconnected. Two major approaches are followed to address these issues. Self-assembled skeletal muscle constructs are produced in vitro by delaminating sheets of cocultured myoblasts and fibroblasts, which results in contractile cylindrical “myooids.” Alternatively, matrix-based approaches include placing cells into scaffold of various origin, including organic polymers of synthetic and of biological origin. Our main goal is to generate a functional, implantable skeletal muscle containing different tissues, pre-assembled in vitro on a scaffold derived from a cadaveric muscle.