Bioscaffolds for formation of motor endplates and other specialized tissue structures
AssigneeWake Forest University Health Sciences
InventorsGeorge J. Christ, Justin M. Saul, John B Scott, Benjamin T. Corona, Benjamin S. Harrison, Catherine Ward
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Abstract
Provided herein are scaffolds and methods useful to promote the formation of functional clusters on a tissue, for example, motor endplates (MEPs) or a component thereof on skeletal muscle cells or tissue, as well as the use of scaffolds so produced for repairing a tissue injury or defect.
Claims32
A scaffold comprising beads therein or thereon, wherein said beads comprise an agent of interest.
A method of making a scaffold comprising beads therein or thereon, comprising:
- providing a hydrogel comprising beads, said beads comprising an agent of interest;
- applying said hydrogel onto a fiber template;
- polymerizing said hydrogel around said fiber template to form a polymerized hydrogel;
- and then,
- selectively dissolving said fiber template to create hollow tubes within said polymerized hydrogel, to thereby make the scaffold comprising beads therein or thereon.
A method of culturing organized skeletal muscle tissue from precursor muscle cells, comprising cyclically stretching and relaxing said muscle cells on a scaffold in vitro for a time sufficient to produce said organized skeletal muscle tissue, and further comprising:
- including agrin at separate and discrete locations in or on said scaffold, said agrin provided in an amount effective to promote the formation of aggregated acetylcholine receptors in said organized skeletal muscle adjacent to one or more of said separate and discrete locations.
A method of culturing organized skeletal muscle tissue from precursor muscle cells comprising:
- cyclically stretching and relaxing said muscle cells seeded onto a scaffold in vitro for a time sufficient to produce said organized skeletal muscle tissue,
- wherein said scaffold comprises fibrinogen, and
- wherein said scaffold comprises a plurality of channels aligned along a first axis.
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.