Hydrogel Muscles
Bioengineers have invented a way to quickly repair damaged muscles
Evgenia Chernysheva, Naked Science
It is known that our stem cells are in the best condition when the tissues are just beginning to form – during embryonic development. Over time, as we age, cell membranes lose their elasticity and ability to quickly return to normal. Thus, all parts of the body gradually wear out, and we have a need for their "repair and replacement", this is especially true for the current generation, which lives many times longer than our ancestors lived.
Scientists have been working on artificial cell repair for many years, but the technologies they invent are rarely used in practice: they are stopped either by the complexity of operations or their high cost. This time, a cheap and easy way was found to rehabilitate any, even the most damaged muscle tissue. This discovery gives hope to people who cannot return to normal life after a serious injury or illness, as well as to all those who dream of being eternally young and active.
Under the guidance of Dr. Richard Williams from Melbourne Royal University of Technology (Australia), researchers combined laboratory-grown peptides with natural proteins and polymers and created a 3D hydrogel matrix. It triggers regeneration processes and turns stem cells into muscle fiber, functioning on the basis of natural mechanisms that actually exist in nature.
Part of replicated muscle tissue. Image / © RMIT University (Spare parts from small parts: novel scaffolds to grow muscle).
"Essentially, we're forcing healthy cells to reorganize and grow small fibers on their own, which eventually form healthy muscle," Williams says. He also compares the new technology to a time machine that sends tissues into the past so that they remember how quickly they were able to recover when a person was still an embryo.
The scientists tested their invention and came to the conclusion that the "reconstruction" of individual cells and their integration into integral structures begins within a time interval of 24 to 72 hours after the "sowing" of the hydrogel. By the way, only two cells are enough to start the process.
"We have developed a simple, cheap and very powerful tool that encourages cells to grow, because natural tissues are extremely difficult to artificially recreate in their natural form," Williams writes in an article published in the journal Biomacromolecules. At the moment, he and his colleagues are trying to understand how nerves and blood vessels can be "embedded" into the muscles recreated in this way.
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