Characterization of Gelatin Hydrogels Cross-Linked with Microbial Transglutaminase as Engineered Skeletal Muscle Substrates

Bioengineering

Divya Gupta¹  MeganL. McCain¹  JeffreyW. Santoso¹ 

[1] Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, 1042 Downey Way, DRB 140, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA;

关键词: myotube;    micromolding;    elastic modulus;    transmittance;    myogenic index;    sarcomere;   

DOI  :  10.3390/bioengineering8010006

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Engineered in vitro models of skeletal muscle are essential for efficiently screening drug safety and efficacy. However, conventional culture substrates poorly replicate physical features of native muscle and do not support long-term culture, which limits tissue maturity. Micromolded gelatin hydrogels cross-linked with microbial transglutaminase (gelatin-MTG hydrogels) have previously been shown to induce C21C2 myotube alignment and improve culture longevity. However, several properties of gelatin-MTG hydrogels have not been systematically characterized, such as changes in elastic modulus during incubation in culture-like conditions and their ability to support sarcomere maturation. In this study, various gelatin-MTG hydrogels were fabricated and incubated in ambient or culture-like conditions. Elastic modulus, mass, and transmittance were measured over a one- or two-week period. Compared to hydrogels in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or ambient air, hydrogels in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) and 5% CO₂ demonstrated the most stable elastic modulus. A subset of gelatin-MTG hydrogels was micromolded and seeded with C2C12 or primary chick myoblasts, which aligned and fused into multinucleated myotubes with relatively mature sarcomeres. These data are important for fabricating gelatin-MTG hydrogels with predictable and stable mechanical properties and highlight their advantages as culture substrates for engineering relatively mature and stable muscle tissues.

【 授权许可】

Unknown