Polymeric micro-gripper for applying mechanical stimulation on three-dimensional cell aggregates

Abstract

This work reports the development of a polymeric micromechanical device to provide mechanical stimulation to three-dimensional (3D) cell aggregates that are a few hundred of µm in size. Different from current loading technologies for 3D cultured cells, the device allows for the application of individually adjustable mechanical stimulation to a number of 3D cell aggregates, thus allowing parallel operation for in-depth investigation of loading parameter-dependent cell responses. Proof-of-concept experiments showed that the unique strain pattern generated by this device is able to guide the differentiation of embryonic stem cells towards a specific direction without the use of chemical inducing factors. This work indicates that 3D mechanical stimuli can be a promising inducing factor for regulating stem cell differentiation.