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Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Media

Formulated with physiological glucose and insulin concentrations to promote insulin sensitivity alongside sustained contractile integrity

Media Formulation Size Application Price
Metabolic Differentiation Media
META-PRI-250-D 		250 mL Differentiation · Days 0–10
Promotes robust myoblast fusion in 3D muscle tissues		 $945
Metabolic Maintenance Media
META-PRI-250-M 		250 mL Maintenance · Days 10+
Supports 24 tissues for up to 10 days in 3D culture		 $995
Insulin-Free Metabolic Media
META-NO-INS-250 		250 mL User-Defined Insulin · All days
For use throughout the entire 3D culture period		 $995
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Designed for Metabolically Active Skeletal Muscle

Curi Bio's Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Media is purpose-built for researchers working with 3D engineered muscle tissues (EMTs) using primary or iPSC-derived human myoblasts. The formulation supports sustained contractile function, enabling accurate metabolic phenotyping in drug discovery and disease modeling workflows.

Unlike standard 2D culture media that drive GLUT1-dependent glucose uptake, Metabolic Media promotes GLUT4 expression — the primary transporter in physiological skeletal muscle — enabling more human-relevant metabolic readouts.

  • Reproducible Results

    Lot-to-lot consistency ensures experiments are comparable across time and between labs, reducing variability at the media level.

  • Physiological Relevance

    Supports GLUT4-driven glucose uptake and robust AKT signaling — key hallmarks of insulin-sensitive muscle tissue in vivo.

  • Serum-Free Formulation

    Serum-free formula reduces lot-to-lot variability and supports reproducible conditions for human-relevant cell models.

  • Designed for Metabolic Assays

    The insulin-free formula gives researchers full control over insulin conditions, enabling precise dose-response studies and flexible metabolic readouts.

 
 
 

 Performance Validated Across Key Assays

Curi Bio Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Media supports a broad range of research applications requiring physiologically active human muscle models.

 
 

Culturing EMTs in Metabolic Media with a High-to-Low Insulin Switch at Day 10 Drives Elevated Contractile Force. Twitch and tetanic forces for low and high-to-low insulin media formulations (mean ± SD; n=3).

Metabolic Media with High-to-Low Insulin Switch Restores Robust Insulin Sensitivity. Representative western blot after 100 nM insulin stimulation with quantified pAKT and GLUT4 levels.

 

EMTs Capture Metabolic Responses to Exercise and Nutrient Stress. Glycogen and lactate concentrations are modulated in response to exercise, glucose starvation, insulin stimulation, and glucose reintroduction.

Metabolic Media Enables Insulin-Stimulated 2-DG Uptake. EMTs loaded with 2-DG exhibited a robust insulin dose–response, consistent with insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane (mean ± SD).

 
 
 

Metabolic Media Resources

Explore supporting literature and application notes to learn how Curi Bio's Metabolic Media enables your research.

 

Application Note · December 2025

Metabolic Health and Disease in Skeletal Muscle

Daniel Lih MS, Thomas Leahy PhD, Shawn Luttrell PhD, Christal Worthen PhD, Greg Luerman PhD

Modeling atrophy and insulin sensitivity in 3D engineered muscle tissues using Curi Bio's Mantarray platform. Demonstrates GLUT4 upregulation, pAKT signaling, contractile force improvements, and quantitative metabolic assays including 2-DG glucose uptake and glycogen/lactate profiling.

External Publication · Novo Nordisk · bioRxiv 2025

Functionally Mature Bioengineered Human Skeletal Muscle Tissues Capture Essential Aspects of Glucose Metabolism

Carlsson et al., Novo Nordisk

Independent validation demonstrating that Curi Bio's Metabolic Media promotes insulin sensitivity in 3D EMTs, including significantly increased glucose uptake, enhanced pAKT Ser473 signaling (EC₅₀ improved from 11.52 to 0.67 nM), and elevated GLUT4 protein expression confirmed by western blot and immunofluorescence.

 
 

Learn More About Metabolic Media Today

With Curi Bio's Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Media, you get a purpose-built formulation for 3D engineered muscle tissues — physiologically validated, insulin-sensitive, and optimized for functional and metabolic readouts.

  • Physiological Insulin Sensitivity: The Day 10 high-to-low insulin switch promotes GLUT4 upregulation and robust pAKT signaling — recapitulating in vivo skeletal muscle glucose transport not achievable with standard media.

  • Superior Contractile Performance: Culturing EMTs in Metabolic Media enables high-fidelity functional readouts in disease modeling, exercise protocols, and drug screening assays.

  • Integrated Metabolic Readouts: Quantify glucose uptake, glycogen storage, and lactate secretion alongside contractility measurements — all within a single 3D culture system compatible with the Curi Mantarray™ and Nautilai™ platforms.

Request a quote today or speak to a specialist to integrate Metabolic Media into your research workflow.

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