Fixation of engineered skeletal muscle fiber using magnetically induced mechanical interlocking for micromechanical structures

Abstract

Engineering skeletal muscle fibers are expected to be used as bio-actuators because they bring various advantages of biological materials to actuators, such as the ability to operate at much smaller sizes. However, to prevent muscle fibers from malfunctioning due to spontaneous shrinkage during culture, fixation during the culture process is necessary. Furthermore, to prevent muscle fibers from breaking during fixation and considering the load reduction for bio-actuators, this study combines our previously proposed method of creating magnetic ends at both ends of muscle fibers, and uses magnets to attract the magnetic ends to achieve fixation on 3D-printed fixation parts based on mechanical interlocking. By using a measurement system consisting of an electrical slider and strain gauge, fixation force measurement was applied to the muscle fiber fixed on the 3D-printed fixation part. The experiment confirms the critical role of magnetic force in facilitating the integration between magnetic ends and interlocking structures. Furthermore, empirical observations confirmed the occurrence of interlocking phenomena during the fixation of magnetic ends.