Design and Validation of Equiaxial Mechanical Strain Platform, EQUicycler, for 3D Tissue Engineered Constructs

It is crucial to replicate the micromechanical milieu of native tissues to achieve efficacious tissue engineering and regenerative therapy. In this study, we introduced an innovative loading platform, EQUicycler, that utilizes a simple, yet effective, and well-controlled mechanism to apply physiologically relevant homogenous mechanical equiaxial strain on three-dimensional cell-embedded tissue scaffolds. The design of EQUicycler ensured elimination of gripping effects through the use of biologically compatible silicone posts for direct transfer of the mechanical load to the scaffolds. Finite Element Modeling (FEM) was created to understand and to quantify how much applied global strain was transferred from the loading mechanism to the tissue constructs. In vitro studies were conducted on various cell lines associated with tissues exposed to equiaxial mechanical loading in their native environment. In vitro results demonstrated that EQUicycler was effective in maintaining and promoting the viability of different musculoskeletal cell lines and upregulating early differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells. By utilizing EQUicycler, collagen fibers of the constructs were actively remodeled. Residing cells within the collagen construct elongated and aligned with strain direction upon mechanical loading. EQUicycler can provide an efficient and cost-effective tool to conduct mechanistic studies for tissue engineered constructs designed for tissue systems under mechanical loading in vivo.