530 Novel cell stretching micro device for high spatial and temporal resolution observation
Details
In this study, we have developed a novel cell stretching micro device to observe cellular response to mechanical stimuli with high spatial and temporal resolution. In conventional cell stretching device, rigid displacement of cell body during stretching operation is not negligible. And this rigid displacement makes it difficult to observe instant initial cellular response to stretching. The novel micro device is fabricated by applying MEMS technique, and consists of a transparent elastic micro chamber and a micro linkage mechanism. The micro chamber and the linkage mechanism are fabricated by micro molding and multiple exposure technique of photoresist, respectively. We demonstrated availability of fabrication process, and evaluated performance of the micro device. When applying a stretch to chamber, rigid displacement was well suppressed. This result indicated a potential of this device to observe instant initial cellular response to stretching mechanical stimuli.
