Title:Engineered Muscle Tissues for Disease Modeling and Drug Screening Applications
VOLUME: 23 ISSUE: 20
Author(s):Mohammad Hossein Mohammadi, Raquel Obregón, Samad Ahadian, Javier Ramón-Azcón* and Milica Radisic*
Affiliation:Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Biosensors for Bioengineering group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB), Edifici Clúster, c/ Baldiri Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9
Keywords:Cardiac muscle, Skeletal muscle, drug screening, Engineering muscle, Human pharmacological response, physiological similarity.
Abstract:Animal models have been the main resources for drug discovery and prediction of drugs’ pharmacokinetic
responses in the body. However, noticeable drawbacks associated with animal models include high cost, low
reproducibility, low physiological similarity to humans, and ethical problems. Engineered tissue models have
recently emerged as an alternative or substitute for animal models in drug discovery and testing and disease modeling.
In this review, we focus on skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle tissues by first describing their characterization
and physiology. Major fabrication technologies (i.e., electrospinning, bioprinting, dielectrophoresis, textile
technology, and microfluidics) to make functional muscle tissues are then described. Finally, currently used muscle
tissue models in drug screening are reviewed and discussed.
