'Meat’ the future: mesenchymal stromal cells as alternative cell type for cultured meat

Korte beschrijving

Cultured meat gained increasing attention the past decade due to its potential benefits when compared to conventional meat production. To produce cultured meat, several criteria must be fulfilled before cells can be considered as a suitable cell source: (i) ease of isolation, (ii) high proliferation capacity, and (iii) ability to differentiate into myotubes and/or fat, both present in in vivo skeletal muscles. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are considered a promising candidate, due to their abundance, their high proliferation potential, their role during muscle development and their inherent ability to differentiate into both muscle and adipose cells. Nevertheless, it is only recently that their use in the context of cultured meat production has been explored. Therefore, the general aim of this doctoral thesis was to gain a better fundamental insight into bovine MSC characteristics.