微重力条件下打印出人体肌肉组织 为太空生物制造等研究开辟新路径

Core Insights - A research team from ETH Zurich has successfully created human muscle tissue in a simulated microgravity environment using 3D printing technology, which is crucial for studying disease mechanisms and testing new drugs [1][2][3] Group 1: Technology and Methodology - The team developed a new biomanufacturing system called G-FLight, which can rapidly generate active muscle structures in seconds [2] - The experiments were conducted during 30 parabolic flights that created brief periods of weightlessness, allowing for successful 3D printing [2] - A special biopolymer resin was used to ensure high cell viability during the printing process, resulting in muscle tissue with good cell activity and fiber counts comparable to ground-printed samples [2] Group 2: Applications and Implications - The technology marks significant progress in space tissue engineering, with long-term goals of cultivating human tissues and organoids directly in space [2] - The mini-organs produced in microgravity can be used to study muscle degeneration caused by weightlessness and serve as platforms for researching diseases like muscle atrophy [2] - The closer resemblance of microgravity-printed tissues to real human physiology provides a more accurate environment for drug testing, potentially accelerating the development of new therapies [2][3]