Treatment of volumetric muscle loss in mice using nanofibrillar scaffolds enhances vascular organization and integration

Abstract

Traumatic skeletal muscle injuries cause irreversible tissue damage and impaired revascularization. Engineered muscle is promising for enhancing tissue revascularization and regeneration in injured muscle. Here we fabricated engineered skeletal muscle composed of myotubes interspersed with vascular endothelial cells using spatially patterned scaffolds that induce aligned cellular organization, and then assessed their therapeutic benefit for treatment of murine volumetric muscle loss. Murine skeletal myoblasts co-cultured with endothelial cells in aligned nanofibrillar scaffolds form endothelialized and aligned muscle with longer myotubes, more synchronized contractility, and more abundant secretion of angiogenic cytokines, compared to endothelialized engineered muscle formed from randomly-oriented scaffolds. Treatment of traumatically injured muscle with endothelialized and aligned skeletal muscle promotes the formation of highly organized myofibers and microvasculature, along with greater vascular perfusion, compared to treatment of muscle derived from randomly-oriented scaffolds. This work demonstrates the potential of endothelialized and aligned engineered skeletal muscle to promote vascular regeneration following transplantation.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 07, 2019
Source ID
10.1038/s42003-019-0416-4

Entities

People

  • Chelsey S. Simmons
  • Cynthia Alcazar
  • Ioannis Karakikes
  • Karina H. Nakayama
  • Marco Quarta
  • Ngan F Huang
  • Nicholas S. Calvo
  • Oscar J Abilez
  • Patrick Paine
  • Thomas A. Rando
  • Victor Garcia

Organizations

  • National Institutes of Health
  • United States Department of Defense
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Immunology and Pathology
  • Trauma Surgery or Emergency Medicine.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology