Fabrication and Preliminary Test Results of A MEMS Cell Stimulator for Stem Cell Research

This paper presents the fabrication and preliminary test results of a MEMS cell stimulator, which has never been tried and reported. It provides a new tool of cell stimulation, culture and analysis for stem cell research. MEMS cell stimulator is designed to apply compressive pressure to the hMSCs (human mesenchymal stem cells) for inducing chondrogenesis. MEMS cell stimulator is based on the pneumatic actuator with a flexible diaphragm. It consists of air chamber and cell-media chamber. hMSCs under the cyclic compressive stimulation for one week are observed and examined. The results show the cyclic mechanical stimulation makes the different phenomenon of the cultured hMSCs in cell growth and membrane. This is an important result in terms of making a feasibility of MEMS cell stimulator to provide the reduction of the necessary quantity of stem cells, process cost and increases the throughput