Open Access

Robin Bayer, Jürgen Hescheler, Gerhard Artmann, Aysegül Temiz Artmann

• Hypertension describes the pathological increase of blood pressure, which is most commonly associated with the increase of vascular wall stiffness [1]. Referring to the “Deutsche Bluthochdruck Liga” this pathology shows a growing trend in our aging society. In order to find novel pharmacological and probably personalized treatments, we want to present a functional approach to study biomechanical properties of a human aortic vascular model. In this method review we will give an overview of recent studies which were carried out with the CellDrum technology [2] and underline the added value to already existing standard procedures known from the field of physiology. Herein described CellDrum technology is a system to measure functional mechanical properties of cell monolayers and thin tissue constructs in-vitro. Additionally, the CellDrum enables to elucidate the mechanical response of cells to pharmacological drugs, toxins and vasoactive agents. Due to its highly flexible polymer support, cells can also be mechanically stimulated by steady and cyclic biaxial stretching.