Bridging the gap between in vivo and in vitro research:
Reproducing in vitro the mechanical and electrical environment of cells in vivo
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1
BMSEED LLC, United States
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2
Arizona State University, School of Molecular Sciences, United States
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3
Columbia University, Biomedical Engineering, United States
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4
Princeton University, Electrical Engineering, United States
In vitro research has many advantages over in vivo research, such as (1) tight control of chemical and physical environment, (2) reduced cost (3) higher throughput, and (4) reduced animal-use. However, one of the substantial weaknesses of in vitro experiments is that they fail to replicate the conditions of cells in an organism, e.g., isolated and cultivated primary cells usually differ strongly from the corresponding cell type in an organism, limiting the value of in vitro data to predict in vivo behavior. BMSEED has developed a research tool that addresses this weakness. The tool bridges the gap between in vitro and in vivo research by reproducing the mechanical and electrical environment of cells in vivo in a controlled in-vitro environment. This capability is enabled by a combination of BMSEED’s stretchable microelectrode array (sMEA) and the accompanying platform, the Micro-Electrode Array Stretching Stimulating und Recording Equipment (MEASSuRE, Figure 1). The sMEA contains elastically stretchable electrodes embedded in an elastomeric matrix that contact the cell or tissue culture. MEASSuRE contains the hardware to mechanically stretch, optically image, and electrically stimulate/record from the cells/tissue cultured on the sMEA. MEASSuRE consists of three modules: (1) the Mechanics Module applies the strain to the culture under study (radial or linear strain up to 50%, strain rate up to 100s-1); (2) the Imaging Module captures images of the cells before, during and after stretching (up to 2000 frames per second at 2MP resolution); and (3) the Electrophysiology Module allows the recording and stimulation of electrophysiological activity of the cells (120 channels). There are two types of mechanical environments that cells in the body are exposed to: (1) in a physiological stretch, the cells are stretched within their healthy limits, and (2) in a pathological stretch, the cells are stretched beyond their healthy limits, causing a trauma. We will report on the capabilities that MEASSuRE provides for studying physiological and pathological stretch, and present examples.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the support of this research by the National Institute of Health through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (grant number 1R43NS086118-01A1).
Keywords:
microelectrode array,
stretch,
thin films,
Electrophysiology,
mechanics,
imaging
Conference:
MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays, Reutlingen, Germany, 4 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Microelectrode Array Technology
Citation:
Graudejus
O,
Ponce Wong
RD,
Varghese
N,
Wagner
S and
Morrison
B
(2019). Bridging the gap between in vivo and in vitro research:
Reproducing in vitro the mechanical and electrical environment of cells in vivo.
Conference Abstract:
MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fncel.2018.38.00069
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Received:
22 Feb 2018;
Published Online:
17 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Oliver Graudejus, BMSEED LLC, Phoenix, Arizona, 85034, United States, oliver@bmseed.com