2015 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 187-192
We have been investigating the mechanical cell stimulation because it has the possibility to enhance cell function without any chemical and biological material. In this paper, a newly developed cell stimulation system using magnetic beads attached on the cell wall is presented. The magnetic beads are attached on cultured cells in advance and an alternating magnetic field produced by the electric magnet is exposed onto the cells attached the magnetic beads. The beads are vibrated with the magnetic field and the cell wall received the vibration stimulation. Basic performance of the stimulation system is evaluated in this paper. The system can produce an attractive force of 30 pN onto the beads and can vibrate the beads up to a vibration frequency of 80 Hz with an oscillation amplitude of 450 nanometers. The vibration of the magnetic beads on the cultured cells with a vibration frequency of 10 Hz was observed successfully with human mesenchymal stem cells.
