Improved contractile force generation of tissue-engineered skeletal muscle constructs by IGF-I and Bcl-2 gene transfer with electrical pulse stimulation

摘要

IntroductionTissue-engineered skeletal muscle constructs should be designed to generate contractile force with directional movement. Because electrical impulses from a somatic nervous system are crucial for in vivo skeletal muscle development, electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) culture as an artificial exercise is essential to fabricate functional skeletal muscle tissues in vitro. To further improve muscle functions, the activation of cell-signaling pathways from myogenic growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, is also important. Because tissue-engineered skeletal muscle constructs should maintain a high cell-dense structure, the expression of an anti-apoptotic factor, such as B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), could be effective in preventing cell death.