TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kurz, R.
A1  - Linder, Peter
A1  - Trzewik, Jürgen
A1  - Rüffer, M.
A1  - Artmann, Gerhard
A1  - Digel, Ilya
A1  - Rothermel, A.
A1  - Robitzki, A.
A1  - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül
T1  - Contractile tension and beating rates of self-exciting monolayers and 3D-tissue constructs of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes
JF  - Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing
N2  - The CellDrum technology (The term 'CellDrum technology' includes a couple of slightly different technological setups for measuring lateral mechanical tension in various types of cell monolayers or 3D-tissue constructs) was designed to quantify the contraction rate and mechanical tension of self-exciting cardiac myocytes. Cells were grown either within flexible, circular collagen gels or as monolayer on top of respective 1-mum thin silicone membranes. Membrane and cells were bulged outwards by air pressure. This biaxial strain distribution is rather similar the beating, blood-filled heart. The setup allowed presetting the mechanical residual stress level externally by adjusting the centre deflection, thus, mimicking hypertension in vitro. Tension was measured as oscillating differential pressure change between chamber and environment. A 0.5-mm thick collagen-cardiac myocyte tissue construct induced after 2 days of culturing (initial cell density 2 x 10(4) cells/ml), a mechanical tension of 1.62 +/- 0.17 microN/mm(2). Mechanical load is an important growth regulator in the developing heart, and the orientation and alignment of cardiomyocytes is stress sensitive. Therefore, it was necessary to develop the CellDrum technology with its biaxial stress-strain distribution and defined mechanical boundary conditions. Cells were exposed to strain in two directions, radially and circumferentially, which is similar to biaxial loading in real heart tissues. Thus, from a biomechanical point of view, the system is preferable to previous setups based on uniaxial stretching.
Y1  - 2010
U6  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11517-009-0552-y
SN  - 1741-0444
VL  - 48
IS  - 1
SP  - 59
EP  - 65
PB  - Springer Nature
CY  - Cham
ER  -