Controlled electromechanical cell stimulation on-a-chip.

ABSTRACT: Stem cell research has yielded promising advances in regenerative medicine, but standard assays generally lack the ability to combine different cell stimulations with rapid sample processing and precise fluid control. In this work, we describe the design and fabrication of a micro-scale cell stimulator capable of simultaneously providing mechanical, electrical, and biochemical stimulation, and subsequently extracting detailed morphological and gene-expression analysis on the cellular response. This micro-device offers the opportunity to overcome previous limitations and recreate critical elements of the in vivo microenvironment in order to investigate cellular responses to three different stimulations. The platform was validated in experiments using human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

SUBMITTER: Pavesi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488866 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature