Scientific, sustainability and regulatory challenges of cultured meat

Producing meat without the drawbacks of conventional animal agriculture would greatly contribute to future food and nutrition security. This Review Article covers biological, technological, regulatory and consumer acceptance challenges in this developing field of biotechnology. Cellular agriculture is an emerging branch of biotechnology that aims to address issues associated with the environmental impact, animal welfare and sustainability challenges of conventional animal farming for meat production. Cultured meat can be produced by applying current cell culture practices and biomanufacturing methods and utilizing mammalian cell lines and cell and gene therapy products to generate tissue or nutritional proteins for human consumption. However, significant improvements and modifications are needed for the process to be cost efficient and robust enough to be brought to production at scale for food supply. Here, we review the scientific and social challenges in transforming cultured meat into a viable commercial option, covering aspects from cell selection and medium optimization to biomaterials, tissue engineering, regulation and consumer acceptance

Electrospinning of hydrogels for biomedical applications

The field of biomedical applications for hydrogels requires the development of nanostructures with specific controlled diameter and mechanical properties. Nanofibers are ideally candidates for these advanced requirements, and one of the easiest techniques that can produce one-dimensional nanostructured materials in fibrous form is the electrospinning. This technique provides extremely thin fibres with controlled diameter, highly porous microstructure with interconnected pores; extremely versatile allowing the use of various polymers for tailoring various applications requirements and it is a simple cost-effective method on preparation of scaffolds. In this section, we will discuss recent and specific applications with a focus on their mechanisms. As such, we conclude this section with a discussion on perspectives and future possibilities on this field.ye

In vitro and in vivo cytocompatibility of electrospun nanofiber scaffolds for tissue engineering applications

An electrospun polymeric-based nanofibrous scaffold mimicking the extracellular matrix and serving as a temporary support for cell growth, adhesion, migration and proliferation.</p

Poly(ester-ether)s: III. assessment of cell behaviour on nanofibrous scaffolds of PCL, PLLA and PDX blended with amorphous PMeDX

The aim of this paper is to investigate the physico-chemical properties, degradation behaviour and cellular response of electrospun fibre-scaffolds of semi-crystalline PCL, PLLA and PDX blended with amorphous poly(methyl dioxanone) (PMeDX). Electrospun PCL/PMeDX and PLLA/PMeDX blend mats in varying weight ratios of the two components were fabricated and their overall performance was compared with similar composition PDX/PMeDX scaffolds. DSC analysis showed almost no change in crystallization temperature of PCL with increasing PMeDX content and TGA showed a different degradation profile as PMeDX content increased. The appearance of two crystallization peaks for PLLA/PMeDX blends suggested stereocomplex formation. As noted from AFM images, addition of PMeDX caused a change in the width of the lamellae from 14.8 ± 2.9 nm in 100/0 mat to 32.0 ± 11.5 nm in 85/15 mat. Moreover, PCL/PMeDX blend mats show a significant drop in Young\u27s modulus for 93/7, 90/10 and 85/15 compositions compared to 100/0 and 98/2. On the other hand, no clear trend in mechanical properties was observed for espun PLLA/PMeDX mats with increasing PMeDX content. Based on these analyses, it was concluded that PCL and PMeDX were immiscible while miscible blends were obtained with PLLA and PMeDX. Initial degradation of electrospun mats over a period of 5 weeks appears to occur via a surface erosion mechanism. In vitro cell culture studies using HDFs showed that the scaffolds were bioactive and a greater density of viable cells was noted on electrospun PCL/PMeDX and PLLA/PMeDX scaffolds compared to PCL and PLLA mats respectively. HDFs infiltrated through the entire thickness of espun 85/15 PLLA/PMeDX scaffold due to a combination of factors including morphology, porosity, surface characteristics and mechanical properties. This journal i