Figure 1
From: Controlled electromechanical cell stimulation on-a-chip
Design of the microfluidic platform developed to investigate the biological cell responses to various stimuli.
A) Schematic view of the device for applying electrical, mechanical and chemical stimulations. The central channel (in red) is the media channel to provide nutrients and soluble factors to cells. The pneumatic channels (in light blue) perform mechanical stimulation by stretching the PDMS membrane (yellow arrows) where the cells are cultured. The electrical layer contains two conductive regions composed of a mixture of CNTs and PDMS (in light gray), which are connected to the stimulator through two external gold-coated connectors (in red and black). The uniform electric field across the cell culture region is represented by the red arrows. (B) Cross section of the device in the unstimulated configuration. (C) Cross section of the device in the electromechanical stimulated configuration. Applying vacuum in the two lateral pneumatic channels (in light blue) allows stretching of the cells on the deformable membrane (in yellow).
