Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.
L, B., D, A., & C, C. (2026). Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54707-6
L B, D A, C C. Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.. Scientific reports. 2026; doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-54707-6
L B, D A, C C. Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.[J]. Scientific reports. 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-54707-6.
@article{l2026,
author = {Benecke L and Aibibu D and Cherif C},
title = {Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-54707-6},
note = {PMID: 42236806},
}
TY - JOUR AU - Benecke L AU - Aibibu D AU - Cherif C TI - Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle. T2 - Scientific reports PY - 2026 DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-54707-6 AN - PMID:42236806 ER -
To biomimetically mimic native muscle tissue new artificial soft actor materials need to be developed that can be processed into fibers and combine high mass-specific work, a sufficiently high contraction capacity, short contraction times, and biocompatibility. In this context, liquid crystal elastomers (LCE) are a promising class of materials that exhibit high actuator performance. Based on a novel spinning method to create MBB-based LCE fibers (LCEF), here we present an artificial muscle fiber capable of performing mass specific work of up to 31.2 J kg-1 while activation time was as fast as 0.466 s, resulting in an average mass specific power of 45.88 ± 23.75 W kg-1, thus to this extend mimicking skeletal muscle characteristics. Cell cytotoxicity assays were performed and compared to RM82-based LCEF from literature, showing that for the first time a cytocompatible LCEF was generated. Thus, the here presented actuator fibers offer great potential for future application in tissue engineering, e.g., as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle.