title: A bioreactor with an electro-responsive elastomeric membrane for mimicking intestinal peristalsis.
abstract: This study describes an actuated bioreactor which mimics the pulsatile contractile motion of the intestinal barrier using electro-responsive elastomers as smart materials that undergo deformation upon electrical stimulation. The device consists of an annular dielectric elastomer actuator working as a radial artificial muscle able to rhythmically contract and relax a central cell culture well. The bioreactor maintained up to 4 h of actuation at a frequency of 0.15 Hz and a strain of 8%-10%, to those of the cyclic contraction and relaxation of the small intestine. In vitro tests demonstrated that the device was biocompatible and cell-adhesive for Caco-2 cells, which formed a confluent monolayer following 21 days of culture in the central well. In addition, cellular adhesion and cohesion were maintained after 4 h of continuous cyclic strain. These preliminary results encourage further investigations on the use of dielectric elastomer actuation as a versatile technology that might overcome the limitations of commercially available pneumatic driving systems to obtain bioreactors that can cyclically deform cell cultures in a biomimetic fashion.
authors.affiliation: Research Center 'E.Piaggio' and Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo L Lazzarino, I-56126 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cei
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frediani
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Domenici
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carpi
authors.forename: Arti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahluwalia
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019149:Bioreactors; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D020724:Elastomers; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000502:physiology; D010528:Peristalsis / Q000502:physiology*; D011108:Polymers
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020724:Elastomers; D011108:Polymers; C036925:elastomeric polymer