Table 1.

A comparison of commonly published skeletal muscle models.

Publication features	Vandenburgh et al., 1996	Okano and Matsuda, 1998	Vandenburgh et al., 2008	Chiron et al., 2012	Smith et al., 2012	Martin et al., 2015
Features of published skeletal muscle chambers
Attachment/fixed points	Velcro and stainless-steel pins	Fixed points	Flexible silicone posts	Silicone pins	Polyethylene mesh	Stainless-steel pins
Construct volume	400 μL	n/a	100 μL	150 μL	3200 μL	700 μL
Matrix	Collagen and matrigel®	Collagen	Collagen, atrigel® and fibrin	Fibrin	Collagen	Thrombin and fibrin
Matrices type			Natural
Seeded cell type	C2C12 mouse myoblasts	C2C12 mouse myoblasts	Primary mouse myoblasts	Primary HDMCs	Primary rat DMCs	C2C12 mouse myoblasts or primary human DMCs
Geometric configuration of chamber	Rectangular	Mandrel – ring shaped	Cylindrical	Rectangular	Rectangular	Circular – then rolled cylindrical tubes
Chamber design type	Custom-built	Custom-built	Manufactured	Custom-built	Custom-built	Custom-built
Chamber/well type	Commercially available silicone tubing	Agarose gel ring	Custom-built wells with posts	Custom-built	Commercially available singular rectangular wells	Custom-built wells with pins

The chambers used for 3D TE have three main corresponding features. (1) They are anchored by fixed point(s). (2) They have a geometric configuration that is rectangular. (3) The chambers are used with a natural (compliant) matrix. The hydrogel matrix/scaffold used for supporting cells varies between the models, as does construct volume, cell type, and seeding density per milliliter (latter not displayed).