Engineering of a matured muscle tissue construct by electrical stimulation-induced exercise and co-culturing iPS cell-derived neurons
Description: Skeletal muscle physiology and the mechanisms of muscle diseases can be effectively studied by an in-vitro tissue model produced by tissue engineering. In this study, a human skeletal muscle tissue was produced by our newly developed method. To mimic native muscles, we focused on mechanical stresses. This study demonstrated that periodic exercise induced by continuous electrical stimulation enhanced the contractile ability of the engineered tissue. On the other hand, muscle contraction is controlled by nerve system in the body. From this viewpoint, we also attempted to produce a neuron-muscle tissue construct. Human iPS cells-derived motor neurons were seeded onto the tissue construct, and then the resultant tissue showed potential that human neurons physiologically connected to the engineered muscles. This new tissue engineering method could lead to truly biomimetic muscle tissue generation, and development of in-vitro physiological tissue models.
Amount: ¥23,660,000
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
Start date: 2016-04-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Investigator: Hironobu Takahashi
Institution: Tokyo Women's Medical University
Funded outputs count: 3
Funder award ID: 16H05909
OpenAlex ID: G7832728926