A stimuli-responsive platform for muscle stem cell culture

Regenerative muscle stem cell (MuSC) implantation offers a therapeutic option for muscle replacement after ablative muscle trauma and for progressive degenerative muscle diseases. Currently, MuSCs are grown on tissue culture plastics that do not aid in maintaining their proliferation. In addition, the use of animal-derived serum in cell culturing poses a cost and quality control challenge to cell therapies. Optimizing muscle cell growth substrata will improve the yield and quality of cell culture while eliminating the use of animal-derived serum will lead to viable and cost-effective cell therapy treatments. The project aims to determine if electrical stimulation (ES) that mimics our nerve impulses can be used to enhance the proliferation of MuSCs without the use of animal-derived products.