Scaffolding Biomaterials for 3D Cultivated Meat: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

Cultivating meat from stem cells rather than by raising animals is a promising solution to concerns about the negative externalities of meat production. For cultivated meat to fully mimic conventional meat's organoleptic and nutritional properties, innovations in scaffolding technology are required. Many scaffolding technologies are already developed for use in biomedical tissue engineering. However, cultivated meat production comes with a unique set of constraints related to the scale and cost of production as well as the necessary attributes of the final product, such as texture and food safety. This review discusses the properties of vertebrate skeletal muscle that will need to be replicated in a successful product and the current state of scaffolding innovation within the cultivated meat industry, highlighting promising scaffold materials and techniques that can be applied to cultivated meat development. Recommendations are provided for future research into scaffolds capable of supporting the growth of high-quality meat while minimizing production costs. Although the development of appropriate scaffolds for cultivated meat is challenging, it is also tractable and provides novel opportunities to customize meat properties.

Keywords: biomaterials; bioprinting; cell-based meat; cultivated meat; cultured meat; scaffolding; tissue engineering.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the hierarchical structure of vertebrate muscle. a) Cross‐sectional view of a muscle with a single fascicle, muscle fiber, myofibril, and sarcomere magnified to show detail. b) Mammalian/avian and c) fish muscle cut longitudinally and in cross‐section to highlight their structural homology. In both panels, a single muscle is oriented such that the muscle fibers run parallel to the page. Dashed lines indicate the relationship between the diagrammed muscle and a steak (b) or a fish (c). Legend applies to all panels.

Figure 2

Schematic representation of the composition of the extracellular matrix.

Figure 3

Schematic of the general production process for cultivated meat.

Figure 4

Summary of scaffold types and materials. Gray outlined items indicate scaffolds belonging to more than one category. Scaffolds that have been tested with cell types or cells from species relevant to cultivated meat are indicated with icons to the lower right of the entry. The “plant or fungus‐based” category also includes molecules commonly produced by these groups that are also sourced from other organisms (e.g., cellulose from bacteria or algae, or chitosan from crustaceans). For a more comprehensive version of this figure, please see Figure S1 of the Supporting Information.

Figure 5

a–f) Highlighted examples of scaffold types and fabrication methods developed by various research groups that are working on cultivated meat. An overview of their approach is demonstrated, as well as images verifying the presence of muscle‐like markers and structures in their chosen cell types grown on or in the constructs. a) Adapted with permission.^{[ 123 ]} Copyright 2020, Springer Nature. b) Adapted with permission.^{[ 118 ]} Copyright 2021, Elsevier. c) Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.^{[ 59 ]} Copyright 2019, The Authors. Published by Springer Nature. d) Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.^{[ 119 ]} Copyright 2021, The Authors. Published by Springer Nature. e) Adapted with permission.^{[ 187 ]} Copyright 2021, Elsevier. f) Adapted with permission.^{[ 188 ]} Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society.