Effect of Hierarchical Scaffold Consisting of Aligned dECM Nanofibers and Poly(lactide- co-glycolide) Struts on the Orientation and Maturation of Human Muscle Progenitor Cells

Extracellular matrices (ECMs) derived from tissues and decellularized are widely used as biomaterials in tissue engineering applications because they encompass tissue-specific biological and physical cues. In this study, we utilized a solubilized decellularized tissue (dECM) obtained from skeletal muscle to fabricate a nanofibrous structure using the electrospinning technique. The dECM was chemically modified by methacrylate reaction (dECM-MA) to improve the structural stability before electrospinning. The electrospun dECM-MA nanofibers were combined with microscale fibrillated poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) constructs fabricated by three-dimensional printing and fibrillation/leaching of poly(vinyl alcohol) to promote skeletal muscle cell orientation and maturation. Using the electrostatic force-assisted fiber-alignment method, a multiscale composite scaffold consisting of fibrillated PLGA and aligned dECM-MA nanofibers was fabricated. The multiscale dECM-MA/PLGA composite scaffold significantly promoted the cellular orientation and myotube formation of human muscle progenitor cells compared to control scaffolds. The results suggested the potential use of the multiscale dECM-MA/PLGA composite scaffold, which contains the biochemical and topographical cues, for bioengineering a skeletal muscle tissue construct.