Modeling intramuscular fat infiltration in the engineered skeletal muscle myobundles

Key Points

• The aim is to model intramuscular fat infiltration in engineered skeletal muscle myobundles to study its effects on muscle function.
• 3D-printed micropillars were used for constructing engineered myobundles.
• Engineered myobundles mimicked fat-infiltrated muscle without systemic confounding factors.
• Vitamin D intervention was applied to assess its impact on muscle function.
• Intramuscular fat infiltration was found to impair muscle function through inflammation, matrix remodeling, and metabolic reprogramming.
• Vitamin D significantly alleviated muscle impairments induced by fat infiltration.