Scientists use silk from a transgenic silkworm to grow skeletal muscle cells

Researchers at Utah State University are using silkworm silk to grow skeletal muscle cells, developing traditional methods of cell culture and hope to lead to better treatments for muscle atrophy.

When scientists try to understand disease treatment and experimentation, they usually grow model cells on a flat plastic surface (think petri dish). But it has its limitations in cell growth on a bilateral surface, mainly due to three-dimensional muscle tension.

Thus, USU researchers developed a three-dimensional cell culture surface by growing cells on silk fibers wrapped around an acrylic device. The team used both native and transgenic worm silk, the latter being made with silkworms modified by spider silk genes.

Silkworm native silk has previously been used as a three-dimensional cell culture model, but this is the first time that silkworm transworm silk has been used for skeletal muscle modeling. Elizabeth Vargis, Matthew Clegg, and Jacob Barney from the Department of Biological Engineering, and Justin Jones, Thomas Harris, and Xiaoli Zhang from the Department of Biology published their results in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.

Cells grown on silk from silkworms mimicked human skeletal muscles more closely than those grown on the normal plastic surface. These cells showed more mechanical flexibility and more expression of genes needed for muscle contraction. Silk silk also promoted proper muscle fiber alignment, an essential element for strong muscle modeling.

Skeletal muscle is responsible for moving the skeleton, stabilizing joints, and protecting internal organs. Deterioration of these muscles can occur for many reasons, and can occur rapidly. For example, after just two weeks of moving, a person can lose nearly a quarter of quadricep muscle strength. It is necessary to understand how muscle atrophy can begin so quickly at the cellular level, with cells grown to better represent reality.

The main goal of my research is to build in vitro models. Researchers grow cells on these 2D platforms, which are not very real, but give us a lot of information. Based on these results, they usually move into an animal model, then move on to clinical trials, where most of them fail. I will try to contribute to that first step by developing more rational in vitro models of conventional and infectious material.. “

Elizabeth Vargis, Associate Professor of Biological Engineering, Utah State University