Abstract
We produced a cell culture platform with magnetically deformable structures that can apply mechanical stimuli to cells, and we confirmed that we can culture the cells on our platform. We used a shape magnetic anisotropic torque which causes a thin soft magnetic material (ex. permalloy) to stand on a permanent magnet. The magnetically deformable structures consist of a permalloy thin plate covered with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and a double-stick tape was used for adhesion between PDMS and the permalloy. Our platform enables various stimuli such as bending, stretching and torsion. Since magnetic actuation is a non-contact actuation, a pneumatic tube or electric wiring is not required in a petri dish. We used a frog (Xenopus laevis) kidney-derived A6 cell line for cell culture on our platform. After the cell culture of A6, we performed LIVE/DEAD assay to check viability of the cells on our platform. We confirmed that 97% of cells were alive after the culture for 24 hours. This result shows that it is possible to culture cells on our platform which was made of PDMS sheet, permalloy sheet and double-stick tape.
