Integration of Skeletal Muscle Cell onto Si-MEMS and its Generative Force Measurement

We propose skeletal muscle cells as a new material for Bio-MEMS actuator, and developed the fabrication process to integrate it onto Si-MEMS devices. As the first trial of the integration of the skeletal muscle cells onto the Si-MEMS device, we used a cantilever-based force measurement Si-MEMS device for evaluating the generative force of the muscle cells. Murine skeletal muscle cell line C2C12 myoblasts were patterned on the device by using poly-N-isopropylacrylamide as a sacrificed layer. The cell-patterned device was immersed into the cell culture medium and cultivated for 7 days. The results of the immunological staining of the muscle specific protein, alpha-actinin, confirmed that the patterned myoblasts successfully differentitated into myotubes on the device. Then, we applied the electrical stimulation to the myotubes, evaluated the active tension generated from the myotubes, and revealed that its tetanic value was approximately 1.2 muN.