A New Method for Inducing Strain in Living Tissue

Abstract

Mechanical forces are important to proper behavior of cells and tissues within organisms. Tissue stretching devices can simulate the mechanical microenvironment tomake experimental results more physiological and the interplay between forces and cell dynamics. In this project, a new tissue stretching device was designed, built, and tested on living cells at previously unstudied strain magnitudes and geometries. This device allowed for the dynamic application of patterned strain fields to living tissues.Applied strain at high magnitudes was found to affect tissue expansion and spread-ing. Even at lower strain, tissue velocity was found to increase upon application, butthis result may be due to existing tissue dynamics. Applied strain over a fixed region was found to create migration speed spikes near the boundary of that region. This project should enable future study of the effects of strain on tissue in vitro.