Meat similar to natural
Scientists grow meat on a gelatin basis
Researchers from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences named after John A. Paulson (SEAS) grows rabbit and cow muscle cells on edible gelatin scaffolds that mimic the texture and consistency of meat. Their work shows that eventually real meat can be produced in the laboratory and it will not be necessary to breed and kill animals, the SEAS press service reports. The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Science of Food (MacQueen et al., Muscle tissue engineering in fibrous gelatin: implications for meat analogues).
"To grow muscle tissue resembling meat, we needed to find a material that would be edible and would allow muscle cells to bond and grow in a three-dimensional volume. It was important to find an efficient way to produce a large number of these frames in order to justify their potential use in food production," said Luke MacQueen, lead author of the work.
Trying to overcome these difficulties, the researchers applied the methodology developed at SEAS. It uses centrifugal force to rotate long nanofibers of certain shapes and sizes. The team developed edible gelatin fibers to form the basis for cell growth. These fibers mimic the extracellular matrix of natural muscle tissue – the "glue" that holds the tissue together and determines its texture.
The team "planted" fibers with rabbit and cow muscle cells in a Petri dish, which were fixed on gelatin and grow in long thin structures similar to real meat. Scientists compared the texture of lab-grown meat with real rabbit meat, bacon, beef tenderloin and other meat products. It turned out that although cultured and natural products had a comparable texture, natural meat still contained more muscle fibers, that is, they were more mature.
"The maturation of muscle and fat cells in vitro is still a big problem, which will require a combination of advanced stem cell sources, formulations of serum-free nutrient media, such as our edible scaffolds, as well as advances in bioreactor cultivation methods," McQueen said.
However, this study shows that it is possible to grow meat in the laboratory.
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