Assembled Cell‐Decorated Collagen (AC‐DC) Fiber Bioprinted Implants with Musculoskeletal Tissue Properties Promote Functional Recovery in Volumetric Muscle Loss
Abstract
Musculoskeletal tissue injuries, including volumetric muscle loss (VML), are commonplace and often lead to permanent disability and deformation. Addressing this healthcare need, an advanced biomanufacturing platform, assembled cell‐decorated collagen (AC‐DC) bioprinting, is invented to rapidly and reproducibly create living biomaterial implants, using clinically relevant cells and strong, microfluidic wet‐extruded collagen microfibers. Quantitative analysis shows that the directionality and distribution of cells throughout AC‐DC implants mimic native musculoskeletal tissue. AC‐DC bioprinted implants further approximate or exceed the strength and stiffness of human musculoskeletal tissue and exceed collagen hydrogel tensile properties by orders of magnitude. In vivo, AC‐DC implants are assessed in a critically sized muscle injury in the hindlimb, with limb torque generation potential measured over 12 weeks. Both acellular and cellular implants promote functional recovery compared to the unrepaired group, with AC‐DC implants containing therapeutic muscle progenitor cells promoting the highest degree of recovery. Histological analysis and automated image processing of explanted muscle cross‐sections reveal increased total muscle fiber count, median muscle fiber size, and increased cellularization for injuries repaired with cellularized implants. These studies introduce an advanced bioprinting method for generating musculoskeletal tissue analogs with near‐native biological and biomechanical properties with the potential to repair myriad challenging musculoskeletal injuries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 19, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1002/adhm.202101357
Entities
People
- Alessia Randazzo
- Andrew J. Sheean
- Anna A. Bulysheva
- George J. Christ
- Jonathan J Turner
- Kelly Coughenour
- Kyle W. Christensen
- Michael P Francis
- Michael Rariden
- Olivia Sergeant
- Yas Maghdouri‐white
Organizations
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- National Institutes of Health
- Old Dominion University
- San Antonio Military Medical Center
- United States Air Force
- United States Department of Defense
- University of Virginia