Cell traction forces measurement based on BioMEMS microposts matrix / 医用生物力学

ABSTRACT

A review of cell traction forces (CTFs) measurement based on Biological MiCro Electromechanical Systems (BioMEMS) microposts matrix is presented.CTFs are exerted by cells and ansmitted to the underly-ing substrate through focal adhesions and close contacts.which is essential for cells movement.Cells probe the mechanicaI compliance of the exlracellular mabix (ECM) in part by locally deforming it with nanonewton-scale traction forces.Precision measurement of CTFs is significant for many researches such as call biology and tissue engineering and so on.Enabled by the advancement in BioMEMS technology,surface treated high aspeect ratio Polydimethyisiloxane(PDMS)micropos matrix devices,which serve as BioMEMS sensom for de-tecting cellular nanoforces and studying in vitro cell mechanics,have been developed.Closely spaced vartical microposts matrixes were designed to encourage cells to attach and spread across multiple microposts,and to bend the microposts like vertical cantilevers as the cells locomote on the surface.Using this dense and dis-crete matrix of microposts rather than a convanfional continuous substrate,CTFs can be directly measured and quantified by processing the microscopy images of the deformations of microposts.The resolution of the force was in tens of nN/μm scale.At first,the conventional CTFs measurement methods were concisely summa-rized.Then BioMEMS microposts matrix method was described in detail,including principle and fabfication process,Surface treatment and cell expedment results.Furthermore,high aspect ratio structure collapse prob-lem was investigated.