Tissue Engineering: Electroconductive Nanopatterned Substrates for Enhanced Myogenic Differentiation and Maturation (Adv. Healthcare Mater. 1/2016)

Engineering mature and functional skeletal muscle tissue requires an ability to promote the structural organization and differentiation of cultured myoblasts. On page 137, D.-H. Kim, S.G. Im, and co-workers describe a bio-inspired electroconductive culture platform, wherein a nanopatterned substrate mimicking the extracellular matrix of native muscle tissue is covered with a thin layer of gold. Engineered tissues using this platform feature hypertrophic and uniaxially aligned myotubes with increased expression levels of myogenic markers.