Co-delivery of a laminin-111 supplemented hyaluronic acid based hydrogel with minced muscle graft in the treatment of volumetric muscle loss injury

Minced muscle autografting mediates de novo myofiber regeneration and promotes partial recovery of neuromuscular strength after volumetric muscle loss injury (VML). A major limitation of this approach is the availability of sufficient donor tissue for the treatment of relatively large VMLs without inducing donor site morbidity. This study evaluated a laminin-111 supplemented hyaluronic acid based hydrogel (HA+LMN) as a putative myoconductive scaffolding to be co-delivered with minced muscle grafts. In a rat tibialis anterior muscle VML model, delivery of a reduced dose of minced muscle graft (50% of VML defect) within HA+LMN resulted in a 42% improvement of peak tetanic torque production over unrepaired VML affected limbs. However, the improvement in strength was not improved compared to a 50% minced graft-only control group. Moreover, histological analysis revealed that the improvement in in vivo functional capacity mediated by minced grafts in HA+LMN was not accompanied by a particularly robust graft mediated regenerative response as determined through donor cell tracking of the GFP+ grafting material. Characterization of the spatial distribution and density of macrophage and satellite cell populations indicated that the combination therapy damps the heightened macrophage response while re-establishing satellite content 14 days after VML to a level consistent with an endogenously healing ischemia-reperfusion induced muscle injury. Moreover, regional analysis revealed that the combination therapy increased satellite cell density mostly in the remaining musculature, as opposed to the defect area. Based on the results, the following salient conclusions were drawn: 1) functional recovery mediated by the combination therapy is likely due to a superposition of de novo muscle fiber regeneration and augmented repair of muscle fibers within the remaining musculature, and 2) The capacity for VML therapies to augment regeneration and repair within the remaining musculature may have significant clinical impact and warrants further exploration.