Observation of calcium wave on physical stimulus for realizing cell tactile sensor

Abstract

The biological cells maintain their life functions by responding to the stimulus from the external environment and even change their structure and function upon long-term mechanical stimulation. Such characteristics of the biological cells can be utilized for realizing cell tactile sensors. This report shows some preliminary observation how the calcium wave propagates when aligned cells are physically stimulated, which can be utilized for picking up tactile information from the living cells. The biological cells are aligned in one direction by utilizing self-organization process during cell growth. The observation shows that the direction of wave tends to be perpendicular to the direction of the aligned cells. This can be utilized for local information processing of the stimuli to the tactile sensor.