Microthreads Help Grow New Muscles - Technology Review Published by MIT English en Español auf Deutsch in Italiano 中文 in India Subscribe Login Search BiomedicineHome Computing Web Communications Energy Materials Biomedicine Business Blogs Video Mending muscle: Hair-thin threads like the ones shown here were seeded with muscle cells and implanted into wounds to help heal muscle in mice. Credit: Tissue Engineering/Mary Ann Liebert Biomedicine Microthreads Help Grow New Muscles Doctors can't do much in cases of severe muscle damage. New research shows that hair-thin threads might help. Monday, November 15, 2010 By Emily Singer E-mail Audio » Print Researchers have repaired large muscle wounds in mice by growing and implanting "microthreads" coated with human muscle cells. The microthreads—made out of the same material that triggers the formation of blood clots—seem to help the cells grow in the proper orientation, which is vital for rebuilding working muscle tissue. "We hypothesize that cells migrate along these scaffolds, which act like a conduit," says George Pins, associate professor of bioengineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Pins developed the microthread technology. The implanted cells quickly integrate into the existing muscle and reduce formation of scar tissue. "The cells grow into the space where muscle used to be, but they grow in a guided way." Currently, there's not much doctors can do when someone suffers massive injury to a muscle, such as in a car crash or an explosion. Thick bands of scar tissue can form in the wound, leaving the muscle severely and permanently impaired. Scientists are developing numerous approaches to creating replacement muscle, including growing patches of cells in a dish, injecting stem cells into damaged muscle, and implanting cell-seeded scaffolds designed to mimic native tissue. While all of these efforts show promise for certain applications, one of the major challenges has been growing enough cells in the correct structure to heal large muscle wounds. "Muscle alignment is very important," says Kevin "Kit" Parker, a bioengineer at Harvard University who wasn't involved in the research. "You want the sarcomeres [the basic functional unit of muscle] to be aligned, that's how you get muscle contractions." Pins and his collaborators, including Ray Page, an assistant professor at WPI's Bioengineering Institute, aim to solve this problem by growing cells along microthreads. These hair-thin strands are made of fibrin, a protein polymer that the body uses to initiate wound healing, and a common ingredient in tissue engineering. To make the microthreads, the researchers simultaneously extrude fibrinogen, the building block of fibrin, and thrombin, an enzyme that catalyzes the soluble fibrinogen proteins into a polymer, from two small tubes. (Microthreads are also being studied for other applications, such as growing patches of heart muscle to repair damage after heart attacks.) The threads were seeded with human muscle cells derived from tissue discarded during surgery. Prior to seeding, Page's team grew the cells under conditions that pushed them to de-differentiate—or to become more juvenile, less specialized cells—which in turn made them better able to regenerate. To test the technology in mice, researchers cut out about 30 percent of the animals' tibialis anterior muscle, which lies at the front of the lower leg. They then implanted cell-seeded microthreads into the wound. (The diameter of the thread, about 50 to 100 microns, is five to 10 times the size of the cells.) E-mail Print Favorite Share 12Related Articles Cell-Seeded Sutures to Repair the Heart Polymer threads coated with stem cells might one day heal damaged cardiac muscle. Helping Joints Regrow Themselves A chemical-infused scaffold generates new tissue by attracting stem cells. Pig-to-Monkey Transplant Treats Diabetes Embryonic tissue could let xenotransplants evade the host's immune system.Tags muscle tissue tissue engineering would healing Close Comments To comment, please sign in or register Username Password Forgot my password rocket777732 Days Ago 11/15/2010 44 Comments cure all It seems that growth factor can cure anything. Wrinkles, scars, tattoos, diabetes, brain, bigger boobs, penis etc. Micro damage tissue and have sprinkle some growth factor magic. It would be same as exercising and slightly damaging for muscle growth but with bigger factor. Reply bchodo@earthlink.net32 Days Ago 11/15/2010 3 Comments Possible Heart Muscle Repair It would be interesting to see how well this method works on an active muscle. For example, heart muscle. If this procedure would work on repairing damaged heart muscle, that could be significant. 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