Overview
In the field of striated and smooth muscle biology, the study of the mechanical properties of muscle has relied almost exclusively on multi-cellular preparations (whole muscles or muscle strip preparations). These preparations allow for tying, clipping, or clamping of muscle tissue to mechanical apparatus via tendon or bone attachment. Single cells, however, do not have any attachment points (tendons, connective tissues) making the study of mechanical properties of single muscle cells difficult. UMB inventors have addressed this issue through the development of an adhesive comprising of diverse sticky proteins and water miscible proteins. This substance has been dubbed MyoTak, and is specific for the adherence of single cardiac myocytes for evaluation and study of its mechanical properties. Current methods of individual cell mechanical studies use a carbon filament attachment method to capture individual cells. However, problems from carbon filament attachment arise due to its unreliable attachment efficiency (highly variable), unknown mechanism of action (proposed to be electrostatic), and inability to remain strongly attached to allow large cellular contractions. MyoTak greatly enhances attachment efficiency (# of cells attached and ease of attachment) and increases attachment strength, allowing for the generation of larger forces.
Applications
MyoTak has been developed for use in the adherence of single, live muscle cells. However applications fall under any research setting in which there is a need for a strongly bonded, stationary single cell. The accurate study of single muscle cells is highly valuable for the understanding of diseases such as muscular dystrophy, motor neuron diseases, and inflammatory myopathies.
Advantages
-MyoTak is a reliable, reproducible attachment system for use with single cardiac myocytes -A method for cell attaachment has been developed to apply MyoTac to micro-rods quickly and without damage to instrumentation -MyoTak can be fluorescently labeled for imaging and is adaptable to be used in any confocol miscroscope system including ultra-high speed and multiphoton systems as well as laser flash photolysis -Multiple, reproducible experiments can be conducted on the same single cell.
Stage of Development
Preliminary experiments show successful attachment of a single muscle cell with improved measurements in stretch induced burst of Ca2+ sparks than previously described (1.4x) with a similar length change.
R&D Required
Require optimization of MyoTake formulation and methodology to increase the window of opportunity for mechanical measurements.
Licensing Potential
UM seeks to develop and commercialize by an exclusive or non-exclusive license agreement and/or sponsored research with a company active in the area.
Contact Info
Office of Technology Transfer
620 W Lexington St., 4th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (410) 706-2380