Ricerc@Sapienza

The development of smart and intelligent regenerative biomaterials for skeletal muscle tissue engineering is an ongoing challenge, owing to the requirement of achieving biomimetic systems able to communicate biological signals and thus promote optimal tissue regeneration. Electrospinning is a well-known technique to produce fibers that mimic the three dimensional microstructural arrangements, down to nanoscale and the properties of the extracellular matrix fibers.

Skeletal muscle possesses a remarkable capacity to regenerate upon injury thanks to the presence of a population of stem cells called muscle satellite cells (MuSCs). These cells, normally quiescent in resting conditions, become activated by extracellular cues released in the regenerative environment, expand and then differentiate into mature myofibers to properly repair injured muscles. During regenerative cycles, MuSCs undergo dramatic epigenetic changes that dictate activation or repression of specific transcriptional programs needed to transit along different cell fates.