Abstract
Volumetric muscle loss occurs when skeletal muscle loss exceeds the body’s regenerative capacity. Causes include ageing, injury, denervation, disease and surgical loss. Symptoms include chronic pain, impaired function and reduced mobility. Surgical treatment rarely achieves full functional recovery. Skeletal muscle tissue engineering offers hope of new treatments but its widespread success first requires a better understanding of how properties of myogenic stem cells differ between various patient sub-groups, with ageing being a particularly important variable. Physical actuation may provide useful environmental stimuli that promote cell engraftment and maturation, leading to to structural and functional muscle recovery.
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