3D bioprinting directly affects proteomic signature and myogenic maturation in muscle pericytes-derived human myo-substitute.

Abstract

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering (SMTE) has recently emerged to address major clinical challenges such as volumetric muscle loss. Here, we report a rotary wet-spinning (RoWS) biofabrication technique for producing human myo-substitutes with biomimetic architectures and functions. We show how the proposed technique may be used to establish a well-tailored, anisotropic microenvironment that promotes exceptional myogenic differentiation of human skeletal muscle-derived pericytes (hPeri). Using high-resolution mass spectrometry-based proteomics with the integration of literature-derived signaling networks, we uncovered that i) 3D biomimetic matrix environment (PEG-Fibrinogen) confers a lower mitogenicity microenvironment compared to standard 2D cultures, favoring the formation of contractile-competent bundles of pericytes-derived myotubes in an anchoring-independent 3D state, and ii) the bioprinting method promotes an upregulation of muscle matrix structural protein besides increasing contractile machinery proteins with respect to 3D bulk cultures. Finally, in vivo investigations demonstrate that the 3D bioprinted myo-substitute is fully compatible with the host ablated muscular tissue, exhibiting myo-substitute engraftment and muscle regeneration in a mouse VML model. Overall, the results show that 3D bioprinting has a superior capability for controlling the myogenic differentiation process on a macroscale and, with future refining, may have the potential to be translated into clinical practice.