Design of a novel engineered muscle construct using muscle derived fibroblastic cells seeded onto braided collagen threads

Engineered muscle tissue offers a promising solution for the treatment of large muscle defects. Three-dimensional tissue engineered matrices, such as collagen microthreads can be used to grow new myofibers that will reduce scar formation and integrate easily into native myofibers. A culture system that would allow efficient seeding of cells onto engineered 3D matrices is not available. Self assembled type I collagen threads were braided to create a final scaffold containing 18 threads and then glued to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) ring. The scaffolds were crosslinked using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC). Scaffolds were seeded with muscle derived fibroblastic cells (MDFC) using a PDMS mold with a sealed 2 mm by 12 mm channel to promote cell attachment. Each scaffold was seeded with 2.0 times 10⁶ cells/mL for 3 hours in the device then transferred to a 12 well plate. After 1 day of culture, the results showed considerable cell attachment when using the PDMS molds to seed cells onto the braided collagen scaffolds. These results suggest that MDFCs attach to braided collagen scaffolds and may serve as an exciting new approach to facilitate the delivery of cells to large defects in muscle regeneration.