Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 09, 2018 - September 12, 2018
Cells exert a mechanical force on the environment and also perceive the mechanical force from their environment. The hardness of the substrate, the shape of the cells, contact with other cells, etc. affect the cells as the environmental forces from the environment. It has been suggested that environmental forces can influence cell differentiation. However, conventional on-gel cultivation is generally performed by applying a gel-like substance such as a hydrogel on a dish or filling it in a device, and It is impossible to accurately control the shape and thickness of the gel. Therefore, in view of industrialization of regenerative medicine, a question remains about its stability. In addition, since cells change their intracellular structure and protein localization depending on their shapes, it is difficult to realize a stable culture and quantitatively evaluates with conventional on-gel cultivation. In this study, we have developed a cell culture gel which can not be accurately controlled in shape by combining fine processing technology and inkjet technology and enables patterning of cells capable of stable cell culture A gel substrate for culture was prepared. We used reactive ion etching (RIE) to fabricate a number of cell chambers on a cover glass. Silicone was accurately filled in each chamber using inkjet technology. A thin oxide layer on a silicone elastomer was formed in a reproducible and spatially uniform manner using oxygen plasma instead of the gas burner flame. This gel substrate can also be applied to evaluation techniques that can evaluate the cell contraction force applying gel culture on research currently under development. Using this substrate that enables us to simultaneously perform cell patterning and cellular traction force visualization, we attempt to develop a cell-based assay for drug evaluation.
