Building a fake body part to see how bones, tendons, and muscles connect
Triphasic 3D In Vitro Model of Bone-Tendon-Muscle Interfaces to Study Their Regeneration
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Cells aligned along ridges but didn't form organized fibers in tendon/muscle sections after 21 days
Common belief is that proper tissue organization happens quickly in engineered models, but this shows structural complexity requires more time or cues
Practical Takeaways
Use this model to test new biomaterials for joint repairs before animal trials
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Cells aligned along ridges but didn't form organized fibers in tendon/muscle sections after 21 days
Common belief is that proper tissue organization happens quickly in engineered models, but this shows structural complexity requires more time or cues
Practical Takeaways
Use this model to test new biomaterials for joint repairs before animal trials
Publication
Journal
Cells
Year
2023
Authors
W. Balestri, G. J. Hickman, Rob Morris, J. Hunt, Y. Reinwald
Related Content
Claims (10)
Muscle growth requires a supportive infrastructure of tendons, fascia, and cartilage to withstand mechanical loading.
A gel made from collagen and agarose with different amounts of hydroxyapatite can be made to have different stiffness levels: soft like muscle (20 kPa), medium like tendon (140 kPa), and stiff like bone (240 kPa).
When grown together in a gel model, bone cells (MG-63) make osteonectin, tendon cells (HDF) make tenomodulin, and muscle cells (Sket.4U) make α-SMA, and these markers are still present after two weeks.
In this gel model, the number of cells decreases for two weeks then levels off, while their energy use increases for a week then stabilizes after three weeks.
A special container with three sections keeps different liquids separate for a day but still lets cells talk to each other across sections.