より風味豊かな培養肉の大量生産を可能にする培養脂肪組織の製造に成功した Researchers have successfully produced cultivated fat tissue in a way that could help enable large-scale production of more flavorful cultured meat
2023-04-06 タフツ大学
従来の培養肉は、細胞の混合物であり、鶏のナゲットのようなテクスチャーであるため、本物の肉のような食感を再現するのは難しかったが、今回の研究により解決策が見つかった。研究チームは、卵白と海藻から作られるアルギン酸と微生物転移グルタミナーゼなどの結合剤を用いて、マウスと豚由来の脂肪細胞を平坦な二次元の層から立体的なマスに集積した。その後、圧縮試験や脂肪酸プロファイルの調査などを行い、自然な肉の脂肪と似たテクスチャーを再現できることがわかった。
この研究により、細胞農業による肉生産における主要な技術的課題の一つである、大量生産を実現するための培養脂肪組織の開発が進んでいる。
＜関連情報＞
- https://now.tufts.edu/2023/04/06/lab-grown-fat-could-give-cultured-meat-real-flavor-and-texture
- https://elifesciences.org/articles/82120
体外で培養した脂肪細胞を凝集させ、脂質組成が調整可能なマクロスケールの細胞培養脂肪組織を作製し、食品に応用する。 Aggregating in vitro-grown adipocytes to produce macroscale cell-cultured fat tissue with tunable lipid compositions for food applications
John Se Kit Yuen Jr,Michael K Saad,Ning Xiang,Brigid M Barrick,Hailey DiCindio,Chunmei Li,Sabrina W Zhang,Miriam Rittenberg,Emily T Lew,Kevin Lin Zhang,Glenn Leung,Jaymie A Pietropinto,David L Kaplan
eLife Published:Apr 4, 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.82120
Abstract
We present a method of producing bulk cell-cultured fat tissue for food applications. Mass transport limitations (nutrients, oxygen, waste diffusion) of macroscale 3D tissue culture are circumvented by initially culturing murine or porcine adipocytes in 2D, after which bulk fat tissue is produced by mechanically harvesting and aggregating the lipid-filled adipocytes into 3D constructs using alginate or transglutaminase binders. The 3D fat tissues were visually similar to fat tissue harvested from animals, with matching textures based on uniaxial compression tests. The mechanical properties of cultured fat tissues were based on binder choice and concentration, and changes in the fatty acid compositions of cellular triacylglyceride and phospholipids were observed after lipid supplementation (soybean oil) during in vitro culture. This approach of aggregating individual adipocytes into a bulk 3D tissue provides a scalable and versatile strategy to produce cultured fat tissue for food-related applications, thereby addressing a key obstacle in cultivated meat production.
