Skeletal muscle is one of the largest organs in the body and is well known to be necessary for not only mobility but also its metabolic role such as sugar storage. Furthermore, recent studies have rendered evidences that maintaining healthy muscle can improve chronic diseases such as cancer. However, it is not clear why healthy muscle brings the outcomes.
Recently, innovative tissue-engineered technology is expanding and enables to make myocytes 3D-construct. The tissue-engineered muscle is a highly matured culture construct and can be used as not only in vitro exercise model but also drug screening assay system. Our lab has developed a removable tissue-engineered muscle with artificial tendons, and focuses the following themes;
1. Molecular analysis of secreted proteins in a tissue-engineered muscle.
2. Development of a novel in vitro muscle atrophy model in a tissue-engineered muscle.