An open-source, battery-powered, low-cost, and dual-channel pneumatic pulse generator for microfluidic cell-stretch...

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and Bioengineering
• Cell Biology and Mechanobiology

Background:

• Cells respond to mechanical forces, influencing morphology, gene expression, and differentiation.
• In vitro cell stretching typically uses elastic substrates and external mechanical or pneumatic systems.
• Existing setups are often bulky, complex, and require external components, hindering ease of use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a user-friendly, turn-key research tool for in vitro cell stretch assays.
• To develop a compact, incubator-housed system for applying controlled mechanical stimulation to cells.
• To enable bioengineers to perform cell stretch experiments without complex external setups.

Main Methods:

• Developed an open-source, battery-powered, dual-channel cyclic pneumatic pulse generator.
• The system resides entirely within a tissue culture incubator.
• Utilizes a miniature pneumatic air cylinder actuated by a servo motor to generate pressure-vacuum pulses for cell stretching.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a completely battery-powered, standalone system for cell stretching assays.
• Validated performance using a commercially available microfluidic chip.
• Showed that 8-hour cyclic stretching of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced preferential cell alignment perpendicular to the stretch axis.

Conclusions:

• The developed pneumatic pulse generator is a novel, self-contained system for in vitro mechanical cell stimulation.
• This tool simplifies complex cell stretching experiments, making them more accessible to researchers.
• The system effectively induces cellular responses, such as alignment, demonstrating its utility in mechanobiology research.