Table 3.

Summary of bioreactor systems with corresponding electrical and electro-mechanical stimulation protocols.

Cells	Biomaterial	Set-up	2D/3D culture	Stress regime, frequency (Hz), (V), pulse width, strain (%)	Time span of stimulation	Outcome	Authors
ELECTRICAL STIMULATION
Primary rat myoblasts	Fibrin	Biphasic stimulation of culture slide chamber via platinum electrodes	3D	6.8 mA (4 ms duration), bursts at 250 ms > intervals every 4 s	Up to 8 days	No evidence of differentiation and fusion	Stern-Straeter et al., 2005
Rat primary cells (fast muscle)	Fibrin	Stimulation of myooid constructs via custom build force transducer	3D	5 pulses at 20 Hz/4 s at 5 V, 1.5 ms	After culturing of 14 days	Increase in contractility and an enhancement of 15% in TPT and 14% in $\frac{1}{2}$ RT	Huang et al., 2006b
90% C2C12, 10% 3T3	Fibrin	Stimulation of myooid constructs via custom-made stimulation bioreactor	3D	4 pulses, periods at 1.25, 2.5 and 5 V/mm, 0.1 ms in a 400 ms train, recovery of 3.6 s	7 days	2.5 V/mm seemed to be the optimum as it demonstrated a stronger force production and excitability	Donnelly et al., 2010
90% C2C12, 10% 3T3	Fibrin	Stimulation of constructs via custom-made electrical stimulator	2D/3D	0.7, 1, 1.4 V/mm, 0.25 to 1, 4, 9, and 16 ms pulse width	24 h	Electrical field higher than 0.7–2.5 V/mm + pulse width of 1–4 ms > showed enhanced force productions, stronger force dynamics	Khodabukus and Baar, 2012
C2C12	n/a	Electrical pulse stimulation of coverslips	2D	40 V/60 mm, 1 Hz	8 days after differentiation for 1, 2, or 6 h	Development of contractile activity by application of 2 h stimulation at 1 Hz, decrease of contractility when applying electrical stimulus for more than 4 h	Fujita et al., 2007
C2C12, muscle progenitor cells (MPCs)	Collagen type I	Bipolar field stimulation of mBAMs via C-Pace Culture Pacer	2D/3D	4 V/cm, 6 ms pulses at 2 Hz	48 h started on day 0, 1, 2, or 3	More mature cross-striations in MPC mBAMs than C2C12 and fast to slow MHC isoform switch in MPC mBAMs	Langelaan et al., 2011
ELECTROMECHANICAL STIMULATION
Cells	Biomaterial	Set-up	2D/3D Culture	Stress regime, pulse width, frequency (Hz), Strain (%)	Time span of simulation	Outcome	Authors
C2C12 myoblasts	Electro spun polyurethane (PU)	Tubular custom-made set up, computer program controlled	2D/3D	Cyclic stretch, 4 V/mm, 1 Hz, 5%	1 h mechanical strain, resting time 5 h + 7 days of electrical stimuli	Enhanced myotube formation, increase in alpha actinin + MHC	Liao et al., 2008