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

软性光刻和3D打印技术的结合将被用来创建一个多部分的微系统-包括一个用于固定凝胶支撑组织的下部和一个带有可偏转膜的上部-在其中可以在体外保持新分离的骨骼肌。测试材料的球体将集成到弹性体膜中(以创建一个小压痕)，该弹性体膜将通过控制气体通道气动驱动。将使用代表在使用假肢的正常日常活动中所经历的实际负荷条件的致动轮廓/力。2020/21年度CDT项目建议书V.1。完全组装的系统将足够薄，能够长期成像细胞水平上的变化(例如，凋亡率和局部组织重构)，这些变化是由不同的压缩曲线引起的。

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.