Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 03, 2023 - September 06, 2023
In recent years, bioactuators using biomaterials such as cells and tissues as actuators have attracted attention. Among them, skeletal muscle cell-based bioactuators without automaticity can be relatively easily controlled by external stimuli. However, the skeletal muscle actuators can contract but cannot extend by themselves, which makes it difficult to control their length. In this study, we fabricated the fin oscillation mechanism in which two tissue-engineered muscles derived from the mouse myoblast cell line C2C12 were antagonistically arranged. The mechanism used the linear motion caused by contractions of the tissue-engineered skeletal muscles to oscillate the fins via polyimide film. The length of the tissue-engineered skeletal muscles was adjusted to 8.5 mm to drive the fin at the maximum force. The tissue-engineered skeletal muscles were stimulated alternately with bipolar pulses of ±0.5 V/mm amplitude and 4 ms width for 500 ms via the Pt electrodes. This caused the fin to oscillate at 1 Hz with an oscillation angle of 6°.
