Engineered muscle tissue has great potential in regenerative medicine, as disease model and also as an alternative source for meat. Here we describe the engineering of a muscle construct, in this case from mouse myoblast progenitor cells, and the stimulation by electrical pulses.
This model system starts from a myofibroblast-populated fibrin gel that can be used to study endogenous collagen (re)organization real-time in a nondestructive manner. The model system is very tunable, as it can be used with different cell sources, medium additives, and can be adapted easily to specific needs.
Traditionally, cell culture is performed on planar substrates that poorly mimic the natural environment of cells in vivo. Here we describe a method to produce cell culture substrates with physiologically relevant curved geometries and micropatterned extracellular proteins, allowing systematic investigations into cellular sensing of these extracellular cues.