Credit: Univ. of Manchester |
Minute whiskers
of nanoscale dimensions taken from sea creatures could hold the key to creating
working human muscle tissue, Univ.
of Manchester researchers
have discovered.
Scientists have
found that cellulose from tunicates, commonly known as sea squirts, can
influence the behavior of skeletal muscle cells in the laboratory.
These nanostructures
are smaller than muscle cells and are the smallest physical feature found to
cause cell alignment.
Alignment is
important since a lot of tissue in the body, including muscle, contains aligned
fibers which give it strength and stiffness.
Cellulose is a
polysaccharide usually found in plants and is the main component of paper and
certain textiles such as cotton.
It is already
being used for a number of different medical applications, including wound
dressings, but this is the first time it has been proposed for creating
skeletal muscle tissue.
Tunicates grow on
rocks and man-made structures in coastal waters around the world.
Cellulose
extracted from tunicates is well suited for making muscle tissue due to its
unique properties.
Univ. of Manchester academics Dr Stephen Eichhorn and Dr
Julie Gough, working with PhD student James Dugan, chemically extract the
cellulose in the form of nanowhiskers. These minute whiskers are only 10s of nanometers
wide.
When aligned and
parallel to each other, they cause rapid muscle cell alignment and fusion.
The method is
both simple and relatively quick, which could lead to doctors and scientists
having the ability to create the normal aligned architecture of skeletal muscle
tissue.
This tissue could
be used to help repair existing muscle or even grow muscle from scratch.
Creating
artificial tissue which can be used to replace damaged or diseased human
muscles could revolutionize healthcare, and be of huge benefit to millions of
people all over the world.
Dr Eichhorn
thinks the cellulose extracted from the creatures could lead to a significant
medical advancement. He added: “Although it is quite a detailed chemical
process, the potential applications are very interesting.
“Cellulose is
being looked at very closely around the world because of its unique properties,
and because it is a renewable resource, but this is the first time that it has
been used for skeletal muscle tissue engineering applications.
“There is
potential for muscle precision engineering, but also for other architecturally
aligned structures such as ligaments and nerves.”