Prospects of collagen scaffolds for muscle regeneration

Muscle, one of the organs comprising the body, generates and controls forces through contraction-relaxation behavior based on contractile fibers and myofibrils. The exercise of muscles contributes to metabolic activities. However, muscle damage occurs due to aging, external forces, and muscle diseases, and a new regenerative technique of muscles was required because there were limitations in muscle regeneration based on previous therapeutic methods. To overcome the limitations of muscle regeneration, tissue engineering, which is a research field of artificial tissues based on cells, scaffolds, and growth factors, made an entrance. In particular, collagen derived from animal tissues received attention as a biomaterial for scaffolds in tissue engineering because of its high biocompatibility and low inflammatory response. For these reasons, muscle regeneration studies based on collagen scaffolds have been carried out until now. In this review, the research trend and prospect in muscle regeneration studies based on the collagen scaffolds are explained, and it is suggested that applicability of collagen scaffolds for muscle regeneration has been high until now.