Micro-engineered devices for assessing cellular responses to mechanical stimulation of ex vivo tissues

软光刻和3D打印技术的结合将用于创建一个多部分的微系统-包括用于固定凝胶支撑组织的下部和具有可偏转膜的上部-其中新鲜分离的骨骼肌可以在体外维持。将试验材料球体集成到弹性膜中（以创建小压头），其将通过控制气体通道以气动方式驱动。将使用代表下肢假体正常日常活动期间经历的实际负载条件的驱动曲线/力。2020/21 CDT项目建议书表格V.1。完全组装的系统将足够薄，以使得能够对由不同压缩分布引起的细胞水平的变化（例如，凋亡率和局部组织重塑）进行长期成像。

A combination of soft lithography and 3D printing technologies will be used to create a multipart microsystem - including a lower part for securing gel-supported tissue and an upper part with a deflectable membrane - in which freshly isolated skeletal muscle can be maintained in vitro. Spheres of test materials will be integrated into the elastomeric membrane (to create a small indenter), which will be pneumatically-actuated via a control gas channel. Actuation profiles/forces representing actual loading conditions as experienced during normal daily activities with a lower limb prosthesis will be utilised. The 2020/21 CDT Project Proposal Form V.1. fully assembled system will be sufficiently thin to enable long-term imaging of changes at the cellular level (e.g. apoptosis rates and local tissue remodelling) resulting from different compression profiles.