Mechanical stimulation improves tissue-engineered human skeletal muscle

2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (5) ◽  
pp. C1557-C1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney A. Powell ◽  
Beth L. Smiley ◽  
John Mills ◽  
Herman H. Vandenburgh

Human bioartificial muscles (HBAMs) are tissue engineered by suspending muscle cells in collagen/MATRIGEL, casting in a silicone mold containing end attachment sites, and allowing the cells to differentiate for 8 to 16 days. The resulting HBAMs are representative of skeletal muscle in that they contain parallel arrays of postmitotic myofibers; however, they differ in many other morphological characteristics. To engineer improved HBAMs, i.e., more in vivo-like, we developed Mechanical Cell Stimulator (MCS) hardware to apply in vivo-like forces directly to the engineered tissue. A sensitive force transducer attached to the HBAM measured real-time, internally generated, as well as externally applied, forces. The muscle cells generated increasing internal forces during formation which were inhibitable with a cytoskeleton depolymerizer. Repetitive stretch/relaxation for 8 days increased the HBAM elasticity two- to threefold, mean myofiber diameter 12%, and myofiber area percent 40%. This system allows engineering of improved skeletal muscle analogs as well as a nondestructive method to determine passive force and viscoelastic properties of the resulting tissue.

Author(s):  
Hye Kyoung Sung ◽  
Patricia L. Mitchell ◽  
Sean Gross ◽  
Andre Marette ◽  
Gary Sweeney

Adiponectin is well established to mediate many beneficial metabolic effects, and this has stimulated great interest in development and validation of adiponectin receptor agonists as pharmaceutical tools. This study investigated the effects of ALY688, a peptide-based adiponectin receptor agonist, in rat L6 skeletal muscle cells. ALY688 significantly increased phosphorylation of several adiponectin downstream effectors, including AMPK, ACC and p38MAPK, assessed by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence microscopy. Temporal analysis using cells expressing an Akt biosensor demonstrated that ALY688 enhanced insulin sensitivity. This effect was associated with increased insulin-stimulated Akt and IRS-1 phosphorylation. The functional metabolic significance of these signaling effects was examined by measuring glucose uptake in myoblasts stably overexpressing the glucose transporter GLUT4. ALY688 treatment both increased glucose uptake itself and enhanced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. In the model of high glucose/high insulin (HGHI)-induced insulin resistant cells, both temporal studies using the Akt biosensor as well as immunoblotting assessing Akt and IRS-1 phosphorylation indicated that ALY688 significantly reduced insulin resistance. Importantly, we observed that ALY688 administration to high-fat high sucrose fed mice also improve glucose handling, validating its efficacy in vivo. In summary, these data indicate that ALY688 activates adiponectin signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, leading to improved insulin sensitivity and beneficial metabolic effects.


1997 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Parton ◽  
Michael Way ◽  
Natasha Zorzi ◽  
Espen Stang

Caveolae, flask-shaped invaginations of the plasma membrane, are particularly abundant in muscle cells. We have recently cloned a muscle-specific caveolin, termed caveolin-3, which is expressed in differentiated muscle cells. Specific antibodies to caveolin-3 were generated and used to characterize the distribution of caveolin-3 in adult and differentiating muscle. In fully differentiated skeletal muscle, caveolin-3 was shown to be associated exclusively with sarcolemmal caveolae. Localization of caveolin-3 during differentiation of primary cultured muscle cells and development of mouse skeletal muscle in vivo suggested that caveolin-3 is transiently associated with an internal membrane system. These elements were identified as developing transverse-(T)-tubules by double-labeling with antibodies to the α1 subunit of the dihydropyridine receptor in C2C12 cells. Ultrastructural analysis of the caveolin-3– labeled elements showed an association of caveolin-3 with elaborate networks of interconnected caveolae, which penetrated the depths of the muscle fibers. These elements, which formed regular reticular structures, were shown to be surface-connected by labeling with cholera toxin conjugates. The results suggest that caveolin-3 transiently associates with T-tubules during development and may be involved in the early development of the T-tubule system in muscle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (37) ◽  
pp. e2021013118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Mathes ◽  
Alexandra Fahrner ◽  
Umesh Ghoshdastider ◽  
Hannes A. Rüdiger ◽  
Michael Leunig ◽  
...  

Aged skeletal muscle is markedly affected by fatty muscle infiltration, and strategies to reduce the occurrence of intramuscular adipocytes are urgently needed. Here, we show that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) not only stimulates muscle growth but also promotes intramuscular adipogenesis. Using multiple screening assays upstream and downstream of microRNA (miR)-29a signaling, we located the secreted protein and adipogenic inhibitor SPARC to an FGF-2 signaling pathway that is conserved between skeletal muscle cells from mice and humans and that is activated in skeletal muscle of aged mice and humans. FGF-2 induces the miR-29a/SPARC axis through transcriptional activation of FRA-1, which binds and activates an evolutionary conserved AP-1 site element proximal in the miR-29a promoter. Genetic deletions in muscle cells and adeno-associated virus–mediated overexpression of FGF-2 or SPARC in mouse skeletal muscle revealed that this axis regulates differentiation of fibro/adipogenic progenitors in vitro and intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) formation in vivo. Skeletal muscle from human donors aged >75 y versus <55 y showed activation of FGF-2–dependent signaling and increased IMAT. Thus, our data highlights a disparate role of FGF-2 in adult skeletal muscle and reveals a pathway to combat fat accumulation in aged human skeletal muscle.


2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 2706-2715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aymone Gurtner ◽  
Isabella Manni ◽  
Paola Fuschi ◽  
Roberto Mantovani ◽  
Fiorella Guadagni ◽  
...  

NF-Y is composed of three subunits, NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC, all required for DNA binding. All subunits are expressed in proliferating skeletal muscle cells, whereas NF-YA alone is undetectable in terminally differentiated cells in vitro. By immunohistochemistry, we show that the NF-YA protein is not expressed in the nuclei of skeletal and cardiac muscle cells in vivo. By chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments, we demonstrate herein that NF-Y does not bind to the CCAAT boxes of target promoters in differentiated muscle cells. Consistent with this, the activity of these promoters is down-regulated in differentiated muscle cells. Finally, forced expression of the NF-YA protein in cells committed to differentiate leads to an impairment in the down-regulation of cyclin A, cyclin B1, and cdk1 expression and is accompanied by a delay in myogenin expression. Thus, our results indicate that the suppression of NF-Y function is of crucial importance for the inhibition of several cell cycle genes and the induction of the early muscle-specific program in postmitotic muscle cells.


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Vassilopoulos ◽  
Christel Gentil ◽  
Jeanne Lainé ◽  
Pierre-Olivier Buclez ◽  
Agathe Franck ◽  
...  

The ubiquitous clathrin heavy chain (CHC), the main component of clathrin-coated vesicles, is well characterized for its role in intracellular membrane traffic and endocytosis from the plasma membrane (PM). Here, we demonstrate that in skeletal muscle CHC regulates the formation and maintenance of PM–sarcomere attachment sites also known as costameres. We show that clathrin forms large coated lattices associated with actin filaments and the muscle-specific isoform of α-actinin at the PM of differentiated myotubes. Depletion of CHC in myotubes induced a loss of actin and α-actinin sarcomeric organization, whereas CHC depletion in vivo induced a loss of contractile force due to the detachment of sarcomeres from the PM. Our results suggest that CHC contributes to the formation and maintenance of the contractile apparatus through interactions with costameric proteins and highlight an unconventional role for CHC in skeletal muscle that may be relevant to pathophysiology of neuromuscular disorders.


1983 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 887-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Wiche ◽  
R Krepler ◽  
U Artlieb ◽  
R Pytela ◽  
H Denk

Various tissues from rat were examined for the occurrence and cellular localization of plectin, a 300,000-dalton polypeptide component present in intermediate filament-enriched cytoskeletons prepared from cultured cells by treatment with nonionic detergent and high salt solution. The extraction of liver, heart, skeletal muscle, tongue, and urinary bladder with 1% Triton/0.6 M KCl yielded insoluble cell residues that contained polypeptides of Mr 300,000 in variable amounts. These high Mr polypeptide species and a few bands of slightly lower Mr (most likely proteolytic breakdown products) were shown to react with antibodies to rat glioma C6 cell plectin using immunoautoradiography and/or immunoprecipitation. By indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using frozen sections (4 micron) of stomach, kidney, small intestine, liver, uterus, urinary bladder, and heart, antigens reacting with antibodies to plectin were found in fibroblast, endothelial, smooth, skeletal, and cardiac muscle, nerve, and epithelial cells of various types. Depending on the cell type, staining was observed either throughout the cytoplasm, or primarily at the periphery of cells, or in both locations. In hepatocytes, besides granular staining at the cell periphery, conspicuous staining of junctions sealing bile canaliculi was seen. In cardiac muscle strong staining was seen at intercalated disks and, as in skeletal muscle, at Z-lines. In cross sections through smooth muscle, most strikingly of urinary bladder, antibodies to plectin specifically decorated regularly spaced, spot-like structures at the cell periphery. By immunoelectron microscopy using the peroxidase technique, antiplectin-reactive material was found along cell junctions of hepatocytes and was particularly enriched at desmosomal plaques and structures associated with their cytoplasmic surfaces. A specific immunoreaction with desmosomes was also evident in sections through tongue. In cardiac muscle, besides Z-lines, intercalated disks were reactive along almost their entire surface, suggesting that plectin was associated with the fascia adherens, desmosomes, and probably gap junctions. In smooth muscle cells, regularly spaced lateral densities probably representing myofilament attachment sites were immunoreactive with plectin antibodies. The results show that plectin is of widespread occurrence with regard to tissues and cell types. Furthermore, immunolocalization by light and electron microscopy at junctional sites of various cell types and at attachment sites of cytoplasmic filaments in epithelial and muscle cells suggests that plectin possibly plays a universal role in the formation of cell junctions and the anchorage of cytoplasmic filaments.


2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (2) ◽  
pp. E577-E584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsuji Aizawa ◽  
Motoyuki Iemitsu ◽  
Seiji Maeda ◽  
Subrina Jesmin ◽  
Takeshi Otsuki ◽  
...  

The functional importance of sex steroid hormones (testosterone and estrogens), derived from extragonadal tissues, has recently gained significant appreciation. Circulating dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is peripherally taken up and converted to testosterone by 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) and 17β-HSD, and testosterone in turn is irreversibly converted to estrogens by aromatase cytochrome P-450 (P450arom). Although sex steroid hormones have been implicated in skeletal muscle regulation and adaptation, it is unclear whether skeletal muscles have a local steroidogenic enzymatic machinery capable of metabolizing circulating DHEA. Thus, here, we investigate whether the three key steroidogenic enzymes (3β-HSD, 17β-HSD, and P450arom) are present in the skeletal muscle and are capable of generating sex steroid hormones. Consistent with our hypothesis, the present study demonstrates mRNA and protein expression of these enzymes in the skeletal muscle cells of rats both in vivo and in culture (in vitro). Importantly, we also show an intracellular formation of testosterone and estradiol from DHEA or testosterone in cultured muscle cells in a dose-dependent manner. These findings are novel and important in that they provide the first evidence showing that skeletal muscles are capable of locally synthesizing sex steroid hormones from circulating DHEA or testosterone.


1967 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 445-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Shimada ◽  
D. A. Fischman ◽  
A. A. Moscona

Dissociated myoblasts from 12-day chick embryos were cultured in monolayer, and the differentiation of skeletal muscle cells was studied by electron microscopy. The results have revealed a striking ultrastructural similarity between the in vivo and the in vitro developing muscle, particularly with respect to the myofibrils and sarcoplasmic reticulum. This study demonstrates that all the characteristic organelles of mature skeletal muscle can develop in vitro in the absence of nerves.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Gregory Reid ◽  
Fabio Magarotto ◽  
Anna Marsano ◽  
Michela Pozzobon

Large-scale muscle injury in humans initiates a complex regeneration process, as not only the muscular, but also the vascular and neuro-muscular compartments have to be repaired. Conventional therapeutic strategies often fall short of reaching the desired functional outcome, due to the inherent complexity of natural skeletal muscle. Tissue engineering offers a promising alternative treatment strategy, aiming to achieve an engineered tissue close to natural tissue composition and function, able to induce long-term, functional regeneration after in vivo implantation. This review aims to summarize the latest approaches of tissue engineering skeletal muscle, with specific attention toward fabrication, neuro-angiogenesis, multicellularity and the biochemical cues that adjuvate the regeneration process.


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