Advances in skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

TLDR

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering seeks to reconstruct muscle loss from injury or disease, but donor tissue scarcity and morbidity limit autologous grafts, prompting 15 years of research into alternative strategies such as stem cells and AV loop models. The article reviews recent advances in generating functional muscle tissue from autologous stem cells and discusses their clinical relevance for reconstructive surgery. The approach employs autologous precursor cells from multiple sources, including embryonic stem cells and arterio‑venous loop models, combined with tissue‑engineering principles to create vascularized, differentiated skeletal muscle constructs. The review highlights recent evidence that engineered skeletal muscle from stem cells shows potential for clinical reconstructive applications.

Abstract

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering is a promising interdisciplinary specialty which aims at the reconstruction of skeletal muscle loss caused by traumatic injury congenital defects or tumor ablations. Due to the difficulty in procuring donor tissue, the possibilities for alternative treatment like autologous grafting (e.g. muscle flaps) are limited. This process also presents consistent problems with donor-site morbidity. Skeletal muscle tissue engineering tries to overcome this problem by generating new, functional muscle tissue from autologous precursor cells (stem cells). Multiple stem cells from different sources can be utilized for restoration of differentiated skeletal muscle tissue using tissue engineering principles. After 15 years of intensive research in this emerging field, for the first time, solutions using different strategies (e.g. embryonic stem cells, arterio-venous (AV) loop models, etc.) are being presented to resolve problems like vascularisation of tissue engineered constructs. This article reviews recent findings in skeletal muscle tissue engineering and outlines its relevance to clinical applications in reconstructive surgery.