title: An acoustic wave sensor incorporated with a microfluidic chip for analyzing muscle cell contraction.
abstract: We report the fabrication of a microfluidic chip or lab-on-a-chip integrated with a thickness-shear mode (TSM) acoustic wave sensor for muscle cell analysis. The sensor, essentially an AT-cut quartz crystal, serves as a detector for recording changes in acoustic wave properties occurring in an attached cardiomyocyte (single heart muscle cell) during its contraction and relaxation. Presumably, the changes resulted from alterations in viscoelastic properties (e.g. stiffness) of the cells. The effects of excitation electrode size, the presence of a microfluidic channel plate, and liquid loading on the sensor were first examined. Thereafter, muscle cell contraction analysis upon chemical stimuli were described. The potential of the chip for screening of cardiovascular drugs is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Paul C H
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Weijie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parameswaran Ash
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D048429:Cell Size; D033401:Microscopy, Acoustic / Q000379:methods; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats