Fabrication of a Magnetically Driven Cell-Stretching Device for Predefined Cell Alignment in Vitro

Abstract

Various devices have been developed that use stretching silicone sheets to evaluate cellular mechanotransduction. However, few studies have explored predefined cell alignments using mechanical stimuli for engineering applications, including cell sheets and drug screenings. Therefore, we proposed a magnetically driven cell-stretching device for predefined cell alignment in vitro, which consisted mainly of a circular silicone membrane with a neodymium magnet and standard cell culture dish. As the proposed device was incorporated into a cell culture dish, there may be a small risk of contamination in long-term incubation experiments. The device was fabricated by assembling a polydimethylsiloxane membrane and silicone ring. The fabricated device showed that the membrane strain increased with increasing voltage application to the electromagnet, and indicated that cell alignment occurs when strain exceeds 0.8%. Following cyclic stimulation of cells adhered to a membrane for 4 h in a CO2 incubator with 1.05% strain at 0.1 Hz, cell alignment with the predefined direction increased by 20.4% compared to that before stimulation. The findings imply that the proposed device may be utilized for predefined cell alignment.