Effects of Mechanical Properties and Morphologies of Collagen Hydrogels on Tissue Hierarchical Structures of 3D Engineered Muscle Tissues

We have investigated an effect of elastic modulus on morphology of engineered muscle tissues. The engineered muscle tissues were constructed by culturing C2C12 cells in collagen hydrogels with multichannel structures (Multi-Channel Collagen Gels: MCCGs). To test the effect of elastic modulus of MCCGs on the tissue morphology, we modified the elastic modulus of MCCG by crosslinking with genipin. By comparing cellular morphology of C2C12 cells in MCCGs, we have shown that MCCG with genipin crosslinking supports cell adhesion and anisotropic elongation of C2C12 cells seeded in MCCG. The results suggests that a mechanical modification of MCCG is required for effectively culturing myoblasts and constructing functional engineered muscle tissues by using MCCG.