Myoblast proliferation in a porous polyurethane matrix: first steps towards a 3D bio-hybrid actuator

3D cell cultures have been investigated in the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine domains for their potential to recapitulate more reliably the complex environment of natural tissues. Recently, 3D scaffolds for cell culture have been explored also for creating bio-hybrid solutions for actuation in robotics. Artificial actuators suffer from some limitations, such as high power consumption, low scalability to small scales and no capability of self-healing. Contractile muscle cells can be used as biological motors capable of self-repair and auto-assembly, powering actuators from micro to macro scales and enabling untethered operations. The aim of this work is to create a macroporous soft scaffold studying the conditions to foster its full colonization by skeletal myoblasts. Porous scaffolds allow to adjust several parameters critical for nutrient and oxygen distribution maximizing cell survival, like pores interconnection, porosity and permeability.