Cardiomyocyte-Driven Structural Color Actuation in Anisotropic Inverse Opals

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Biohybrid actuators, combining living tissues and artificial materials, are gaining interest for their ability to interact with bioelectrical signals.
• Existing biohybrid systems often lack integrated self-sensing and self-actuation capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate a novel compound biohybrid actuator with self-driven actuation and self-reported feedback.
• To investigate the potential of anisotropic inverse opal substrates for cardiomyocyte alignment and actuation.
• To explore applications in soft-bodied robotics and advanced microphysiological systems.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an anisotropic inverse opal substrate with elliptical macropores and hydrogel filling.
• Culturing and alignment of cardiomyocytes on the elastic substrate to achieve ordered beating.
• Utilizing the substrate's photonic band gap shifts and structural color changes to report actuation.

Main Results:

• Cardiomyocytes exhibited ordered alignment and recovered autonomic beating ability on the anisotropic substrate.
• The biohybrid actuator demonstrated synchronous deformation actuations synchronized with cardiomyocyte beating.
• Actuation was successfully reported through measurable shifts in photonic band gaps and structural colors.

Conclusions:

• The developed anisotropic inverse opal-derived biohybrid actuator offers self-driven actuation and self-reported feedback.
• This technology holds promise for constructing biomimetic robots and advanced heart-on-a-chip systems for drug testing and cell monitoring.
• The biohybrid actuator has broad potential applications in biomedical engineering.