Using Vertebrate Stem and Progenitor Cells for Cellular Agriculture, State-of-the-Art, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Global food systems are under significant pressure to provide enough food, particularly protein-rich foods whose demand is on the rise in times of crisis and inflation, as presently existing due to post-COVID-19 pandemic effects and ongoing conflict in Ukraine and resulting in looming food insecurity, according to FAO. Cultivated meat (CM) and cultivated seafood (CS) are protein-rich alternatives for traditional meat and fish that are obtained via cellular agriculture (CA) i.e., tissue engineering for food applications. Stem and progenitor cells are the building blocks and starting point for any CA bioprocess. This review presents CA-relevant vertebrate cell types and procedures needed for their myogenic and adipogenic differentiation since muscle and fat tissue are the primary target tissues for CM/CS production. The review also describes existing challenges, such as a need for immortalized cell lines, or physical and biochemical parameters needed for enhanced meat/fat culture efficiency and ways to address them.

Plant-derived leaf vein scaffolds for the sustainable production of dog cell-cultured meat

“…Seed cells need to have a good proliferation ability in vitro, and can produce muscle fibers, adipocytes, matrix proteins and other mature somatic cells that constitute muscle tissue( Gershlak et al, 2017 ). Primary seed cells include embryonic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, satellite cells, fibroblasts and so on( Knezic, Janjusevic, Djisalov, Yodmuang, & Gadjanski, 2022 ).…”

Recent advances in in-vitro meat production – a review

“…Further, the cell lines should have high resistance to sheer pressure, tolerate and grow in a nutrient starvation state and withstand metabolic wastes. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs), adipose-derived stem cells (ADSc) and resident muscle stem cells/muscle satellite cells/myosatellite cells are adult stem cells (Knežić et al, 2022). The cells should maintain their proliferative potential without any spontaneous differentiation.…”

Perfusable Biohybrid Designs for Bioprinted Skeletal Muscle Tissue

“…[11] Cell fusion into myotubes might occur independent of substrate flexibility, but myosin/actin striations only emerge in scaffolds displaying stiffness that match the values of actual muscle (passive Young's modulus of ≈10-12 kPa). [48][49][50] Unlike sarcomere formation, the cell adhesion strength augments monotonically versus substrate stiffness with the strongest adhesion on stiff scaffolds. [51] So, the successful development of SMTs requires scaffold materials that display the right balance between elasticity and stiffness.…”