ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2017
Mechanically patterned neuromuscular junctions-in-a-dish have improved functional maturation.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Hyaluronic Acid-Based Bioink for Anisotropic Neural Tissue Cryobioprinting.International journal of extreme manufacturing · 2026Article
- A soft-stiff patterned bioengineering model reveals kinase pathways driving directional cell migration in pulmonary arterial hypertension.Biomaterials science · 2025Article
- Role of Cav1.3 Channels in Brain-Heart Interactions: An Unexpected Journey.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Human iPSC-Derived Motor Neuron Innervation Enhances the Differentiation of Muscle Bundles Engineered with Benchtop Fabrication Techniques.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2025Article
- Neuromuscular Regeneration of Volumetric Muscle Loss Injury in Response to Agrin-Functionalized Tissue Engineered Muscle Grafts and Rehabilitative Exercise.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Article
- Human iPSC-derived motor neuron innervation enhances the differentiation of muscle bundles engineered with benchtop fabrication techniques.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Motor neurons and endothelial cells additively promote development and fusion of human iPSC-derived skeletal myocytes.Skeletal muscle · 2024Article
- Optimization of Application-Driven Development ofTissue engineering. Part B, Reviews · 2022Review
- Intramuscular delivery of neural crest stem cell spheroids enhances neuromuscular regeneration after denervation injury.Stem cell research & therapy · 2022Article
- Validation of Functional Connectivity of Engineered Neuromuscular Junction With Recombinant Monosynaptic Pseudotyped ΔG-Rabies Virus Tracing.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2022Article
- Creating stem cell-derived neuromuscular junctions in vitro.Muscle & nerve · 2021Review
- Engineering skeletal muscle tissues with advanced maturity improves synapse formation with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons.APL bioengineering · 2021Article
- Adhesion strength and contractility enable metastatic cells to become adurotactic.Cell reports · 2021Article
- Passive stiffness of fibrotic skeletal muscle in mdx mice relates to collagen architecture.The Journal of physiology · 2021Article
- Characterization of Gelatin Hydrogels Cross-Linked with Microbial Transglutaminase as Engineered Skeletal Muscle Substrates.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Neuromuscular Development and Disease: Learning FromFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- Method for Investigating Fibroblast Durotaxis.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2021Article
- A Chemically Defined Common Medium for Culture of C2C12 Skeletal Muscle and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Spinal Spheroids.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Motor neuron (MN) diseases are progressive disorders resulting from degeneration of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), which form the connection between MNs and muscle fibers. NMJ-in-a-dish models have been developed to examine human MN-associated dysfunction with disease; however such coculture models have randomly oriented myotubes with immature synapses that contract asynchronously. Mechanically patterned (MP) extracellular matrix with alternating soft and stiff stripes improves current NMJ-in-a-dish models by inducing both mouse and human myoblast durotaxis to stripes where they aligned, differentiated, and fused into patterned myotubes. Compared to conventional culture on rigid substrates or unpatterned hydrogels, MP substrates supported increased differentiation and fusion, significantly larger acetylcholine (ACh) receptor clusters, and increased expression of MuSK and Lrp4, two cell surface receptors required for NMJ formation. Robust contractions were observed when mouse myotubes were stimulated by ACh, with twitch duration and frequency most closely resembling those for mature muscle on MP substrates. Fused myotubes, when cocultured with MNs, were able to form even larger NMJs. Thus MP matrices produce more functionally active NMJs-in-a-dish, which could be used to elucidate disease pathology and facilitate drug discovery.
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