Tissue engineering of muscle on micropatterned polymer films

Tissue engineered skeletal muscle has potential physiologically relevant environments to study myogenesis and investigate the organization, differentiation and proliferation to be used for the therapy of muscular dysfunction. In order to engineer skeletal muscle that better resemble the structured architecture in vivo, we cultured myoblasts on topographically micropatterned elastic polymer films with 10-μm wide microgrooves. The organization and differentiation of myoblasts on nonpatterned and micropatterned PDMS films were characterized. In comparison to the myoblasts on nonpatterned PDMS films, myoblasts on micropatterned PDMS films aligned themselves along the direction of the microgrooves. The myoblasts on micropatterned films formed long and unbranched myotubes that had uniform diameter and aligned in the microgroove direction, suggesting that microgrooves promote end-to end fusion of myoblasts; in contrast, myotubes formed on nonpatterned surface were short and less uniform in diameter, and oriented in various directions. This study demonstrates a new approach to engineer muscular tissues on flexible substrate, and highlights the importance of topographical cues for creating more engineer skeletal muscle.