Preconditioning of skeletal myoblast-based engineered tissue constructs enables functional coupling to myocardium in vivo

摘要

Objective: Skeletal myoblasts fuse to form functional syncytial myotubes as an integral part of the skeletal muscle. During this differentiation process, expression of proteins for mechanical and electrical integration is seized, which is a major drawback for the application of skeletal myoblasts in cardiac regenerative cell therapy, because global heart function depends on intercellular communication.