Successful preparation of the fibrin gel-based cell culture system that
enables longer-period maintenance of contractile activity of skeletal muscle cells

 A research group led by Professor Matsuhiko Nishizawa, Assistant Professor
Kuniaki Nagamine at Graduate School of Engineering and Associate Professor
Makoto Kanzaki at Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku
University has developed the technique to transfer highly-aligned skeletal
muscle cells from a glass substrate onto a fibrin gel. The elastic fibrin
gel substrate made it possible to maintain electrical stimulation-driven
contractile activity of skeletal muscle cells for more than 1 week.
Exercise stresses on skeletal muscle cells are controllable by adjusting the
strength and frequency of electrical pulse stimulation applied to the cells.
This culture system could be useful to reveal the complex mechanisms of an
effective exercise therapy against type2 diabetes which is known to
ameliorate insulin-dependent control of blood glucose level in skeletal
muscle cells. Besides, this culture system could be applicable for
screening of candidate drugs against type2 diabetes. This research has been
conducted as part of a Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology
(CREST) by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). The research results
have been published online in “Biotechnology and Bioengineering” on
December 14, 2009. The paper’s title is _Micropatterning contractile C2C12
myotubes embedded in a fibrin gel._

 An exercise therapy effect against type2 diabetes has been investigated
mainly by whole animal experiments. Recently, because of the high cost,
complicating procedures and ethical issues of whole animal experiments,
development of in vitro bioassay systems that incorporate physiologically
active skeletal muscle cells is urgently required as an alternative method.
However, the in vitro assay systems, currently available, have a dilemma
that the cells strongly attached on a culture dish are difficult to contract
flexibly, and that even if the cells contracted, the cells readily detach
form the dish within a few days. In this study, we have succeeded in
longer-term maintenance of contractile activity of skeletal muscle cells by
supporting the cell contraction with an elastic gel sheet. Besides, aligned
skeletal muscle cells on the gel sheet exhibited more vigorous contraction
than unaligned cells. Researchers can investigate various physiological
functions of skeletal muscle cells by using only a piece of gel sheet
because the gel sheet can be repeatedly attached to and removed from various
analytical equipments or semiconductor devices. The research group has
applied for a patent on this results, and promoted research and development
to commercialize the skeletal muscle cells / fibrin gel sheet as a bioassay
kit for skeletal muscle cell research. Now, the research group is looking
for research partners, hopefully pharmaceutical companies, who work together
to achieve commercialization of the bioassay kit.

 The research has been conducted as the following:
Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) by JST.
Study Field: Creation of Nanosystems with Novel Function through Process
Integration Research Supervisor: Dr. Jyunichi Sone, Vice President, Central
Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation
Study Title: Electrochemistry-Based Biohybrid Devices
Representative: Professor Matsuhiko Nishizawa at Graduate School of
Engineering, Tohoku University Study Duration: October 2008 through March 2014

[Contact]
Professor Matsuhiko Nishizawa
TEL/FAX: +81-22-795-7003
E-mail: nishizawa@biomems.mech.tohoku.ac.jp

Assistant Professor Kuniaki Nagamine
TEL/FAX: +81-22-795-7003
E-mail: nagamine@biomems.mech.tohoku.ac.jp

Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University
Address: 6-6-01 Aoba Aramaki Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8579, Japan