Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40019026›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of physiology. Cell physiology2025

Optimizing electrical field stimulation parameters reveals the maximum contractile function of human skeletal muscle microtissues.

Yekaterina Tiper, Zhuoye Xie, Arne Hofemeier, Heta Lad, Mattias Luber, Roman Krawetz, Timo Betz, Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann, Aaron B Morton, Steven S Segal and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of physiology. Cell physiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Yekaterina TiperInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Zhuoye XieInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Arne HofemeierInstitute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5403-5407
Heta LadInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mattias LuberThird Institute of Physics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3775-0804
Roman KrawetzDepartment of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-2576-4504
Timo BetzThird Institute of Physics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-1548-0655
Wolfram-Hubertus ZimmermannInstitute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
Aaron B MortonDepartment of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-9790-705X
Steven S SegalDepartment of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-5667-2154
Penney M GilbertInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-5509-9616

Funding

Fibroadipogenic progenitor cells as drivers of angiogenesis during muscle regenerationR21HD110771 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · PI SEGAL, STEVEN S · 2023 to 2023
$421k
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) FKZ 161L0250ACanada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)Canada Research Chairs (Chaires de recherche du Canada) 950-231201Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) 450595133Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) 456112451Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) EXC 2067-1Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK)Fondation Leducq (Leducq Foundation) 20CVD04HHS | National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1R21HD110771-01A1NICHD NIH HHS R21 HD110771
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Skeletal muscle microtissues are engineered to develop therapies for restoring muscle function in patients. However, optimal electrical field stimulation (EFS) parameters to evaluate the function of muscle microtissues remain unestablished. This study reports a protocol to optimize EFS parameters for eliciting contractile force of muscle microtissues cultured in micropost platforms. Muscle microtissues were produced across an opposing pair of microposts in polydimethylsiloxane and polymethyl methacrylate culture platforms using primary, immortalized, and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived myoblasts. In response to EFS between needle electrodes, contraction deflects microposts proportional to developed force. At 5 V, pulse durations used for native muscle (0.1-1 ms) failed to elicit contraction of microtissues; durations reported for engineered muscle (5-10 ms) failed to elicit peak force. Instead, pulse durations of 20-80 ms were required to elicit peak twitch force across microtissues derived from five myoblast lines. Similarly, although peak tetanic force occurs at 20-50 Hz for native human muscles, it varied across microtissues depending on the cell line type, ranging from 7 to 60 Hz. A new parameter, the dynamic oscillation of force, captured trends during rhythmic contractions, whereas quantifying the duration-at-peak force provides an extended kinetics parameter. Our findings indicate that muscle microtissues have cell line type-specific contractile properties, yet all contract and relax more slowly than native muscle, implicating underdeveloped excitation-contraction coupling. Failure to optimize EFS parameters can mask the functional potential of muscle microtissues by underestimating force production. Optimizing and reporting EFS parameters and metrics is necessary to leverage muscle microtissues for advancing skeletal muscle therapies.

Indexed as

Electric StimulationMuscle ContractionMuscle, SkeletalTissue EngineeringCell LineCells, CulturedHumansInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsMyoblastscontractile functionelectrical field stimulationengineered skeletal muscleinduced pluripotent stem cellsmicropost platform

Identifiers

PMID40019026
PMCPMC12310163

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.