title: Anisotropic Materials for Skeletal-Muscle-Tissue Engineering.
abstract: Repair of damaged skeletal-muscle tissue is limited by the regenerative capacity of the native tissue. Current clinical approaches are not optimal for the treatment of large volumetric skeletal-muscle loss. As an alternative, tissue engineering represents a promising approach for the functional restoration of damaged muscle tissue. A typical tissue-engineering process involves the design and fabrication of a scaffold that closely mimics the native skeletal-muscle extracellular matrix (ECM), allowing organization of cells into a physiologically relevant 3D architecture. In particular, anisotropic materials that mimic the morphology of the native skeletal-muscle ECM, can be fabricated using various biocompatible materials to guide cell alignment, elongation, proliferation, and differentiation into myotubes. Here, an overview of fundamental concepts associated with muscle-tissue engineering and the current status of muscle-tissue-engineering approaches is provided. Recent advances in the development of anisotropic scaffolds with micro- or nanoscale features are reviewed, and how scaffold topographical, mechanical, and biochemical cues correlate to observed cellular function and phenotype development is examined. Finally, some recent developments in both the design and utility of anisotropic materials in skeletal-muscle-tissue engineering are highlighted, along with their potential impact on future research and clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Soumen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jana
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Sheeny K Lan
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Levengood
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Miqin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D006801:Humans; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials
keywords: anisotropic materials; micropatterned substrates; muscles; nanofibers; scaffolds; tissue engineering