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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Novel ultrashort self-assembling peptide bioinks for 3D

culture of muscle myoblast cells

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Wafaa Arab , Sakandar Rauf , Ohoud Al-Harbi , Charlotte A. E. Hauser 1*
1 Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
2 Electron Microscopy, Imaging and Characterization Core Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology,
Thuwal, KSA

Abstract: The ability of skeletal muscle to self-repair after a traumatic injury, tumor ablation, or muscular disease is
slow and limited, and the capacity of skeletal muscle to self-regenerate declines steeply with age. Tissue engineering of
functional skeletal muscle using 3D bioprinting technology is promising for creating tissue constructs that repair and
promote regeneration of damaged tissue. Hydrogel scaffolds used as biomaterials for skeletal muscle tissue engineering
can provide chemical, physical and mechanical cues to the cells in three dimensions thus promoting regeneration. Herein,
we have developed two synthetically designed novel tetramer peptide biomaterials. These peptides are self-assembling
into a nanofibrous 3D network, entrapping 99.9% water and mimicking the native collagen of an extracellular matrix.
Different biocompatibility assays including MTT, 3D cell viability assay, cytotoxicity assay and live-dead assay confirm the
biocompatibility of these peptide hydrogels for mouse myoblast cells (C2C12). Immunofluorescence analysis of cell-laden
hydrogels revealed that the proliferation of C2C12 cells was well-aligned in the peptide hydrogels compared to the alginate-
gelatin control. These results indicate that these peptide hydrogels are suitable for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.
Finally, we tested the printability of the peptide bioinks using a commercially available 3D bioprinter. The ability to print
these hydrogels will enable future development of 3D bioprinted scaffolds containing skeletal muscle myoblasts for tissue
engineering applications.
Keywords: biomaterials; bioinks; 3D cell culture; 3D scaffold; tissue engineering; skeletal muscle cells

*Correspondence to: Charlotte A. E. Hauser, Laboratory for Nanomedicine, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Division of
Biological & Environmental Science and Engineering, 4700 Thuwal, 23955-6900, KSA; charlotte.hauser@kaust.edu.sa

Received: October 25, 2017;Accepted: April 17, 2018; Published Online: July 13, 2018
Citation: Arab W, Rauf S, Al-Harbi O, et al., 2018, Novel ultrashort self-assembling peptide bioinks for 3D culture of
muscle myoblast cells. Int J Bioprint, 4(2): 129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJB.v4i2.129

1. Introduction be required to restore normal function and prevent scar
[3]
tissue formation .
Approximately half of human adult body mass is Clinical conditions such as tumor resection, traumatic
muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle tissue carries out various injuries, and muscular dystrophy may result in
functions in the body such as respiration, protection volumetric muscle loss. These ailments affect millions
of abdominal viscera, and controlling movements of of people worldwide and cause significant economic
[1]
limbs . Muscle tissue has a native ability to regenerate/ and social problems [4,5] . Autografting is the current gold
repair. However, muscle damage that is larger than a standard to treat substantial skeletal muscle loss/damage.
critical volume is more challenging to fix via natural However, there are some bottleneck issues in surgical
physiological processes which causes muscle tissue loss tissue grafting techniques such as donor site morbidity,
[2]
and functional weakness . Surgical intervention may loss of function at the donor site and shortage of healthy
Novel ultrashort self-assembling peptide bioinks for 3D culture of muscle myoblast cells. © 2018 Arab W, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),
permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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