DEA-based deformable cell culture systems

Motivation

Many fundamental cellular functions (i.e. growth, division, differentiation and death) are regulated by their mechanical environment. Mechanotransduction mechanisms allow them to transduce mechanical stimuli into biochemical activity.
 
Deformable cell culture systems are used to culture biological cells and expose them to controlled periodic mechanical strain. Most of the available technologies are too large to monitor first stages of cellular response or exhibit low screening throughput capabilities.
 
The goal of this project is to develop deformable cell culture systems based on arrays of micro-DEAs. A set of devices are being developed to study the effect of different mechanical stress (tensile, compressive and shear stresses) on biological cells.
 
Technology highlights:
  • Biocompatible soft uniaxial actuator
  • Generate tensile or compressive stress (up to 35%)
  • Compatible with high resolution optical microscopy
  • Compatible with biological cell culture protocol
    (alcohol sterilization, growth medium immersion, high humidity and temperature)
  • Provides long (>24 hours) and stable operation

 

Periodic stretching of small cell population

A single DEA-actuator was developped for periodic stretching of small cell population (mm2). Non-equibiaxial pre-stretch of the membrane is used to generate uniaxial actuation strain (see video below). The device can generate up to 35% uniaxial tensile stretch and covers biologically relevant actuation frequencies (0-5 Hz).

Biological cells are cultured on top of the soft actuator. A patterning protocol was developped to ensure that cells are only attaching and proliferating in the gap located between the two stretchable electrodes (electrodes appear in black on the pictures below). Thanks to the membrane transparency, optical microscopy can be used for real time monitoring of the biological sample.

Periodic compression of small cell populations

A single DEA-actuator was developed for periodic compression of small cell population (mm2). Non-equibiaxial pre-stretch of the membrane is used to generate uniaxial compressive strain (see video below). The device can induce up to 10% uniaxial compressive stretch and covers the biologically relevant actuation frequencies (0-5 Hz).

Biological cells are cultured on top of the soft actuator. A patterning procotol was developped to ensure that cells are only attaching and proliferating in the gap located between the two stretchable electrodes (electrodes appear in black on the pictures below). Thanks to the membrane transparency, optical optical microscopy can be used for real time monitoring of the biological sample.

Main publications on our cell-stretching devices

Imboden et al, “High-speed mechano-active multielectrode array for investigating rapid stretch effects on cardiac tissue”, Nature Communications 2019

A. Poulin; M. Imboden; F. Sorba; S. Grazioli; C. Martin-Olmos et al. : An ultra-fast mechanically active cell culture substrate; Scientific Reports. 2018-07-02. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-018-27915-y.

A. Poulin; C. Saygili Demir; S. Rosset; T. Petrova; H. Shea : Dielectric Elastomer Actuator for Mechanical Loading of 2D Cell Cultures; Lab on a Chip. 2016. DOI : 10.1039/C6LC00903D.