Back

3D human skeletal muscle organoids reveal distinct effects of high-dose dihydronicotinamide riboside on muscle development

Ramanathan, A.; Venkateshvaran, A.; Pundlik, S. S.; Suresh, Y.; Hegde, A.; Rajalakshmi, S.; Barik, A.; Lal, H.; Zachariah, N.; Pranesh, G.; Subramanian, M.

2025-12-03 bioengineering
10.64898/2025.11.28.690663 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The evaluation of NAD+-boosting compounds in human skeletal muscle is hindered by limitations of traditional 2D cultures and animal models. Human-relevant, three-dimensional (3D) engineered skeletal muscle organoids offer a promising platform to assess the biological effects of metabolic modulation. Here we engineered 3D human skeletal muscle organoids to investigate the impact of dihydronicotinamide riboside (NRH), a potent NAD+ precursor. Sustained exposure to high NRH concentrations (500 {micro}M) enhanced early differentiation markers, including increased myotube fusion and fast-twitch fiber area, but concurrently induced structural defects such as disrupted sarcomeric organization, enlarged acetylcholine receptor clusters, and impaired acetylcholine-stimulated calcium signaling. These results reveal that excessive and sustained NAD+ elevation can uncouple rapid differentiation from proper maturation in muscle tissue. Our results highlight the importance of dose and duration optimization for NAD+-boosting compounds and establish 3D engineered muscle organoids as a valuable non-animal platform for mechanistic toxicology and preclinical safety assessment.

Matching journals

The top 11 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.