Cell-laden hinged microplates for measuring the contractile forces of cardiomyocytes

We report a method to measure contractile forces of cardiomyocytes at cellular level using microplates; pairs of single-cell sized plates are connected by a flexible hinge at the center. Cardiomyocytes repeatedly contract and relax, and thereby fold and stretch the microplates at the flexible hinge. By measuring the change of the bending angle in folded microplates, we can estimate contractile forces of cardiomyocytes. We believe that this method is a useful tool to study the biomechanics of cardiomyocytes.