Cell instructive Liquid Crystalline Networks for myotube formation

Daniele Martella; Michele Mannelli; Roberta Squecco; Rachele Garella; Eglantina Idrizaj; Diego Antonioli; Michele Laus; Diederik S Wiersma; Tania Gamberi; Paolo Paoli; Camilla Parmeggiani; Tania Fiaschi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103077

Cell instructive Liquid Crystalline Networks for myotube formation

iScience. 2021 Sep 2;24(9):103077. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103077. eCollection 2021 Sep 24.

Authors

Daniele Martella^{1

2}, Michele Mannelli³, Roberta Squecco⁴, Rachele Garella⁴, Eglantina Idrizaj⁴, Diego Antonioli⁵, Michele Laus⁵, Diederik S Wiersma^{1

2

6}, Tania Gamberi³, Paolo Paoli³, Camilla Parmeggiani^{1

2

7}, Tania Fiaschi³

Affiliations

¹ Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica INRiM, 10135 Turin, Italy.
² European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
³ Department of Biomedical, Experimental, and Clinical Sciences "Mario Serio", University of Florence, 50143 Florence, Italy.
⁴ Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy.
⁵ Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica, Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", 15121 Alessandria, Italy.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
⁷ Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.

Abstract

Development of biological tissues in vitro is not a trivial task and requires the correct maturation of the selected cell line. To this aim, many attempts were done mainly by mimicking the biological environment using micro/nanopatterned or stimulated scaffolds. However, the obtainment of functional tissues in vitro is still far from being achieved. In contrast with the standard methods, we here present an easy approach for the maturation of myotubes toward the reproduction of muscular tissue. By using liquid crystalline networks with different stiffness and molecular alignment, we demonstrate how the material itself can give favorable interactions with myoblasts helping a correct differentiation. Electrophysiological studies demonstrate that myotubes obtained on these polymers have more adult-like morphology and better functional features with respect to those cultured on standard supports. The study opens to a platform for the differentiation of other cell lines in a simple and scalable way.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Cell; Tissue engineering.