Enhanced Skeletal Muscle Differentiation by Multilayered MXene Sheets Filtered and Transferred onto a Thin Elastomeric Film

Engineered muscle tissue with a performance or structure that more closely resembles living tissue is required for regenerative medicine or biohybrid robotics. Recently, conductive two-dimensional Ti₃C₂T_<i>x</i> (MXene) has received considerable attention owing to its favorable bioactive properties. These include antioxidation and anti-inflammation properties, which are conferred by its numerous surface functional groups such as -F, -OH, and -O. Herein, we report the effect on myogenic differentiation of an artificial extracellular matrix comprised of an MXene sheet. We used a multilayered sheet comprising exfoliated micrometer-sized MXene flakes assembled on a poly(styrene-<i>block</i>-butadiene-<i>block</i>-styrene) triblock copolymer (SBS) thin film (9.3 μm thick). Skeletal myoblasts successfully adhered and differentiated into myotubes on the MXene-coated SBS thin film without any surface treatment. Effective myogenic differentiation resulted from the surface functional groups mentioned above. The present study highlights the potential of MXene sheets on SBS thin films as flexible platforms for muscle tissue engineering.