A novel bistable device to study mechanosensitive cell responses to instantaneous stretch

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell Biology
• Mechanobiology

Background:

• Cell and tissue behavior in vivo relies on integrated biochemical and mechanical signals.
• Mechanical signals, particularly stretch, are crucial in pathophysiological processes.
• Existing in vitro stretch devices have limitations for studying rapid cell deformation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel 3D-printed uniaxial stretching device for in vitro cell studies.
• To enable simultaneous measurements of varying stretch levels on a single substrate.
• To investigate cell and nuclear deformation under rapid uniaxial stretch.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 3D-printed, bistable compliant mechanism for uniaxial cell stretching.
• Utilizing the device for rapid deformation of aligned myotubes (healthy and dystrophic).
• Assessing cell and nuclear deformation using immunofluorescence and live-cell imaging.

Main Results:

• The device demonstrated effective uniaxial stretching of cells, showing affine deformation between cells and substrate.
• Intranuclear deformations were found to be non-affine.
• Differentiated mechanical responses between healthy and dystrophic myotubes were observed, with a novel feature identified in dystrophic myotubes.

Conclusions:

• The 3D-printed uniaxial stretching device is effective for studying cell response to rapid deformation.
• The device facilitates the identification of distinct mechanical properties of healthy and diseased cells.
• This technology holds potential for mechanobiological studies and developing rapid diagnostic readouts for diseases like muscular dystrophy.