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Hidalgo-Alvarez V, Madl CM. Leveraging Biomaterial Platforms to Study Aging-Related Neural and Muscular Degeneration. Biomolecules 2024; 14:69. [PMID: 38254669 PMCID: PMC10813704 DOI: 10.3390/biom14010069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Aging is a complex multifactorial process that results in tissue function impairment across the whole organism. One of the common consequences of this process is the loss of muscle mass and the associated decline in muscle function, known as sarcopenia. Aging also presents with an increased risk of developing other pathological conditions such as neurodegeneration. Muscular and neuronal degeneration cause mobility issues and cognitive impairment, hence having a major impact on the quality of life of the older population. The development of novel therapies that can ameliorate the effects of aging is currently hindered by our limited knowledge of the underlying mechanisms and the use of models that fail to recapitulate the structure and composition of the cell microenvironment. The emergence of bioengineering techniques based on the use of biomimetic materials and biofabrication methods has opened the possibility of generating 3D models of muscular and nervous tissues that better mimic the native extracellular matrix. These platforms are particularly advantageous for drug testing and mechanistic studies. In this review, we discuss the developments made in the creation of 3D models of aging-related neuronal and muscular degeneration and we provide a perspective on the future directions for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christopher M. Madl
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA;
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Wang K, Frey N, Garcia A, Man K, Yang Y, Gualerzi A, Clemens ZJ, Bedoni M, LeDuc PR, Ambrosio F. Nanotopographical Cues Tune the Therapeutic Potential of Extracellular Vesicles for the Treatment of Aged Skeletal Muscle Injuries. ACS Nano 2023; 17:19640-19651. [PMID: 37797946 PMCID: PMC10603813 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c02269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Skeletal muscle regeneration relies on the tightly temporally regulated lineage progression of muscle stem/progenitor cells (MPCs) from activation to proliferation and, finally, differentiation. However, with aging, MPC lineage progression is disrupted and delayed, ultimately causing impaired muscle regeneration. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have attracted broad attention as next-generation therapeutics for promoting tissue regeneration. As a next step toward clinical translation, strategies to manipulate EV effects on downstream cellular targets are needed. Here, we developed an engineering strategy to tune the therapeutic potential of EVs using nanotopographical cues. We found that EVs released by young MPCs cultured on flat substrates (fEVs) promoted the proliferation of aged MPCs while EVs released by MPCs cultured on nanogratings (nEVs) promoted myogenic differentiation. We then employed a bioengineered 3D muscle aging model to optimize the administration protocol and test the therapeutic potential of fEVs and nEVs in a high-throughput manner. We found that the sequential administration first of fEVs during the phase of MPC proliferative expansion (i.e., 1 day after injury) followed by nEV administration at the stage of MPC differentiation (i.e., 3 days after injury) enhanced aged muscle regeneration to a significantly greater extent than fEVs and nEVs delivered either in isolation or mixed. The beneficial effects of the sequential EV treatment strategy were further validated in vivo, as evidenced by increased myofiber size and improved functional recovery. Collectively, our study demonstrates the ability of topographical cues to tune EV therapeutic potential and highlights the importance of optimizing the EV administration strategy to accelerate aged skeletal muscle regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Wang
- Discovery
Center for Musculoskeletal Recovery, Schoen
Adams Research Institute at Spaulding, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
| | - Nolan Frey
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
| | - Andres Garcia
- Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
| | - Kun Man
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, University of
North Texas, Denton, Texas 76207, United States
| | - Yong Yang
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, University of
North Texas, Denton, Texas 76207, United States
| | - Alice Gualerzi
- IRCCS
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan 20148, Italy
| | - Zachary J. Clemens
- Department
of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
| | - Marzia Bedoni
- IRCCS
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan 20148, Italy
| | - Philip R. LeDuc
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
- Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
- Department
of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
- Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
| | - Fabrisia Ambrosio
- Discovery
Center for Musculoskeletal Recovery, Schoen
Adams Research Institute at Spaulding, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- Department
of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States
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Clemens Z, Wang K, Ambrosio F, Barchowsky A. Arsenic disrupts extracellular vesicle-mediated signaling in regenerating myofibers. Toxicol Sci 2023; 195:231-245. [PMID: 37527016 PMCID: PMC10535782 DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfad075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic exposure to environmental arsenic is a public health crisis affecting hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. Though arsenic is known to contribute to many pathologies and diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and neurological impairment, the mechanisms for arsenic-promoted disease remain unresolved. This is especially true for arsenic impacts on skeletal muscle function and metabolism, despite the crucial role that skeletal muscle health plays in maintaining cardiovascular health, systemic homeostasis, and cognition. A barrier to researching this area is the challenge of interrogating muscle cell-specific effects in biologically relevant models. Ex vivo studies investigating mechanisms for muscle-specific responses to arsenic or other environmental contaminants primarily utilize traditional 2-dimensional culture models that cannot elucidate effects on muscle physiology or function. Therefore, we developed a contractile 3-dimensional muscle construct model-composed of primary mouse muscle progenitor cells differentiated in a hydrogel matrix-to study arsenic exposure impacts on skeletal muscle regeneration. Muscle constructs exposed to low-dose (50 nM) arsenic exhibited reduced strength and myofiber diameter following recovery from muscle injury. These effects were attributable to dysfunctional paracrine signaling mediated by extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from muscle cells. Specifically, we found that EVs collected from arsenic-exposed muscle constructs recapitulated the inhibitory effects of direct arsenic exposure on myofiber regeneration. In addition, muscle constructs treated with EVs isolated from muscles of arsenic-exposed mice displayed significantly decreased strength. Our findings highlight a novel model for muscle toxicity research and uncover a mechanism of arsenic-induced muscle dysfunction by the disruption of EV-mediated intercellular communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Clemens
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Kai Wang
- Discovery Center for Musculoskeletal Recovery, Schoen Adams Research Institute at Spaulding, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Fabrisia Ambrosio
- Discovery Center for Musculoskeletal Recovery, Schoen Adams Research Institute at Spaulding, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Aaron Barchowsky
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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