Self-healing engineered muscle grown in the laboratory

This article talks about scientists that have fabricated muscles that have the ability to act and regenerate like naturally forming muscles. It was formed by using both well-developed muscle fibers and a pool of muscle stem cells. The stem cells were called satellite cells and were used so when there was damage to the muscle, they were there to heal the damaged area. These stem cells provided a “niche” where they would stay until there was a body signal saying they were needed for regeneration of the damaged muscle. The muscles were first tested outside a living animal to see how they would react to both physical and chemical damages. After it was seen that they are very similar to natural muscles they were implanted into a mouse and the mouse was watched to see how the implanted muscle would react in a living animal. Based off of this study the scientists are hoping to figure out ways to engineer muscles to repair humans with muscle damages.

If this study results turn out to have promising, then after more time and development maybe whole working limbs can be formed for people born without limbs or people that have lost theirs. If this can turn into forming whole limbs that could help people that have only been able to turn to prosthetic limbs as an answer to their missing limbs. This article talks about the prosthetic s of the future; maybe the next step will be new limbs.