Electrospinner: Skeletal muscle scaffold module: 3D printing to build macroscopic framework and electrospinning to weave nanoscale features!

Background

Skeletal muscle accounts for about 40% of the human body mass. It not only has a highly ordered microstructure, but also has macroscopic 3D structural characteristics. It is the combination of these macro and micro structures that together shape the unique functions of skeletal muscle. However, it is difficult for a single biological preparation technology to simultaneously construct nano- and micron-sized structural features.

Recently, Wu Yaobin's research group at Southern Medical University published a research result entitled "3D Printing-Electrospinning Hybrid Nanofibrous Scaffold as LEGO-Like Bricks for Modular Assembly Skeletal Muscle-on-a-Chip Functional Platform" in Advanced Fiber Materials. The study proposed a composite preparation technology combining 3D printing and electrospinning to prepare a skeletal muscle scaffold module with both microscopic and macroscopic structures. This module can be flexibly assembled and combined to simulate engineered muscle tissues of different structures; combined with organ chip technology, it can achieve a variety of functions.

The main point of this paper

3D printing technology is responsible for building a micron-scale framework to provide the entire structure with macroscopic shape and strength; on this basis, the nanoscale structure is woven internally using electrospinning technology. The macrostructure and internal nanostructure are independent of each other, and modules with various shapes can be flexibly made (Figure 1)

Inspired by the modular assembly of LEGO building blocks, this study decomposes the complex skeletal muscle structure into a series of simple modules, and simulates skeletal muscle tissue with complex anatomical structure through the combination of x-y axes. For example, the structure of multi-feather muscle is spliced ​​by 2 parallelogram modules; spliced ​​by 1/4 ring (Figure 2). The experimental results show that primary skeletal muscle cells on the scaffold show oriented growth characteristics that are highly consistent with the nanotopography, thanks to the precise induction of the nanotopography.

In addition, by stacking the z-axis, wrapping the gel containing endothelial cells, and applying perfusion stimulation, vascularized 3D skeletal muscle tissue was successfully constructed (Figure 3).

The skeletal muscle scaffold was embedded in a modular chip to test the multi-module assembly effect of the perfusion stimulation module and the electrical stimulation module. The results are shown in Figure 4.

The dual-scale scaffold construction and module assembly strategy of this work cleverly combines the essence of 3D printing and electrospinning technology, accurately restoring the complex macro and micro structures of skeletal muscle. This innovative method not only demonstrates its unique advantages, but also provides new ideas for bionic construction in other tissue engineering, reduces the complexity and difficulty of experimental operations, and shows a wide range of application prospects.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Article Source:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42765-024-00433-5