Evaluation and optical control of somatic muscle micro bioactuator of channelrhodopsin transgenic Drosophila melanogaster

In this paper, we developed light-activated somatic muscle (body-wall muscle) from transgenic Drosophila melanogaster larvae expressing a blue light sensitive cation channel, channelrhodopsin-2, and incorporated it into a micro device. We successfully demonstrated that optogenetic stimulation using light pulses enabled control of contractile activity with a given temporal pattern. The contractile force was evaluated with varying light intensities and pulse widths. These results have shown that muscle-powered bioactuator system that combines light-activated muscle cells and microfabrication techniques is a useful model for the study of wet-robotics and muscle bioassays for investigating mechanical properties.