title: A microscale anisotropic biaxial cell stretching device for applications in mechanobiology.
abstract: A multi-layered polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device with an integrated suspended membrane has been fabricated that allows dynamic and multi-axial mechanical deformation and simultaneous live-cell microscopy imaging. The transparent membrane's strain field can be controlled independently along two orthogonal directions. Human foreskin fibroblasts were immobilized on the membrane's surface and stretched along two orthogonal directions sequentially while performing live-cell imaging. Cyclic deformation of the cells induced a reversible reorientation perpendicular to the direction of the applied strain. Cells remained viable in the microdevice for several days. As opposed to existing microfluidic or macroscale stretching devices, this device can impose changing, anisotropic and time-varying strain fields in order to more closely mimic the complexities of strains occurring in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis-Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chagnon-Lessard
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirzaei
authors.forename: Andrew E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Pelling
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Godin
mesh_terms: D001703:Biophysics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors