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Karakan MÇ, Ewoldt JK, Segarra AJ, Sundaram S, Wang MC, White AE, Chen CS, Ekinci KL. Geometry and length control of 3D engineered heart tissues using direct laser writing. LAB ON A CHIP 2024; 24:1685-1701. [PMID: 38317604 PMCID: PMC10929702 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc00752a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Geometry and mechanical characteristics of the environment surrounding the Engineered Heart Tissues (EHT) affect their structure and function. Here, we employed a 3D tissue culture platform fabricated using two-photon direct laser writing with a high degree of accuracy to control parameters that are relevant to EHT maturation. Using this platform, we first explore the effects of geometry based on two distinct shapes: a rectangular seeding well with two attachment sites, and a stadium-like seeding well with six attachment sites that are placed symmetrically along hemicylindrical membranes. The former geometry promotes uniaxial contraction of the tissues; the latter additionally induces diagonal fiber alignment. We systematically increase the length of the seeding wells for both configurations and observe a positive correlation between fiber alignment at the center of the EHTs and tissue length. With increasing length, an undesirable thinning and "necking" also emerge, leading to the failure of longer tissues over time. In the second step, we optimize the stiffness of the seeding wells and modify some of the attachment sites of the platform and the seeding parameters to achieve tissue stability for each length and geometry. Furthermore, we use the platform for electrical pacing and calcium imaging to evaluate the functional dynamics of EHTs as a function of frequency.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Çağatay Karakan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
- Photonics Center, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jourdan K Ewoldt
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Addianette J Segarra
- Photonics Center, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, San Juan 00918, Puerto Rico
| | - Subramanian Sundaram
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Miranda C Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Alice E White
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
- Photonics Center, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
- Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Christopher S Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kamil L Ekinci
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
- Photonics Center, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
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Jain A, Choudhury S, Sundaresan NR, Chatterjee K. Essential Role of Anisotropy in Bioengineered Cardiac Tissue Models. Adv Biol (Weinh) 2024; 8:e2300197. [PMID: 38126909 DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202300197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
As regulatory bodies encourage alternatives to animal testing, there is renewed interest in engineering disease models, particularly for cardiac tissues. The aligned organization of cells in the mammalian heart controls the electrical and ionic currents and its ability to efficiently circulate blood to the body. Although the development of engineered cardiac systems is rising, insights into the topographical aspects, in particular, the necessity to design in vitro cardiac models incorporating cues for unidirectional cell growth, is lacking. This review first summarizes the widely used methods to organize cardiomyocytes (CMs) unidirectionally and the ways to quantify the resulting cellular alignment. The behavior of CMs in response to alignment is described, with emphasis on their functions and underlying mechanisms. Lastly, the limitations of state-of-the-art techniques to modulate CM alignment in vitro and opportunities for further development in the future to improve the cardiac tissue models that more faithfully mimic the pathophysiological hallmarks are outlined. This review serves as a call to action for bioengineers to delve deeper into the in vivo role of cellular organization in cardiac muscle tissue and draw inspiration to effectively mimic in vitro for engineering reliable disease models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditi Jain
- Department of Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012, India
| | - Saswat Choudhury
- Department of Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012, India
| | - Nagalingam R Sundaresan
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012, India
| | - Kaushik Chatterjee
- Department of Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012, India
- Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012, India
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Maxey AP, Travis JM, McCain ML. Regulation of oxytocin-induced calcium transients and gene expression in engineered myometrial tissues by tissue architecture and matrix rigidity. Curr Res Physiol 2023; 6:100108. [PMID: 38107790 PMCID: PMC10724203 DOI: 10.1016/j.crphys.2023.100108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The uterus is susceptible to benign tumors known as fibroids, which have been associated with many pregnancy complications, including preterm labor. However, the impact of fibrotic tissue remodeling on the physiology of the myometrium, the smooth muscle layer of the uterus, is poorly understood, in large part due to a lack of model systems. In this study, we engineered healthy-like and fibrotic-like myometrium by culturing human myometrial smooth muscle cells on polyacrylamide hydrogels micropatterned with fibronectin to independently tune matrix rigidity and tissue alignment, respectively. We then evaluated calcium transients in response to oxytocin stimulation. Isotropic myometrial tissues on stiff substrates (representing fibrotic myometrium) had shorter calcium transients due to shorter decay time compared to aligned myometrial tissues on soft substrates (representing healthy myometrium). Calcium transients in aligned tissues had longer response times and longer decay times than isotropic tissues, irrespective of substrate stiffness. The amplitude of calcium transients was also higher on soft substrates compared to stiff substrates, irrespective of tissue alignment. We also performed RNA sequencing to detect differentially expressed genes between healthy- and fibrotic-like tissues, which revealed that a bitter taste receptor shown to induce smooth muscle relaxation, TAS2R31, was down-regulated in fibrotic-like tissues. Finally, we measured oxytocin-induced calcium transients in response to pre-treatment with progesterone, caffeine, thrombin, and nifedipine to demonstrate applications for our model system in drug screening. Both progesterone and caffeine caused a decrease in calcium transient duration, as expected, while thrombin and nifedipine had less impact. Collectively, our engineered model of the myometrium enables new insights into myometrial mechanobiology and can be extended to identify or screen novel drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonina P. Maxey
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jaya M. Travis
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Megan L. McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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House A, Cornick J, Butt Q, Guvendiren M. Elastomeric platform with surface wrinkling patterns to control cardiac cell alignment. J Biomed Mater Res A 2023; 111:1228-1242. [PMID: 36762538 DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
There is a growing interest in creating 2D cardiac tissue models that display native extracellular matrix (ECM) cues of the heart tissue. Cellular alignment alone is known to be a crucial cue for cardiac tissue development by regulating cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions. In this study, we report a simple and robust approach to create lamellar surface wrinkling patterns enabling spatial control of pattern dimensions with a wide range of pattern amplitude (A ≈ 2-55 μm) and wavelength (λ ≈ 35-100 μm). For human cardiomyocytes (hCMs) and human cardiac fibroblasts (hCFs), our results indicate that the degree of cellular alignment and pattern recognition are correlated with pattern A and λ. We also demonstrate fabrication of devices composed of micro-well arrays with user-defined lamellar patterns on the bottom surface of each well for high-throughput screening studies. Results from a screening study indicate that cellular alignment is strongly diminished with increasing seeding density. In another study, we show our ability to vary hCM/hCF seeding ratio for each well to create co-culture systems where seeding ratio is independent of cellular alignment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew House
- Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA
| | - Jason Cornick
- Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA
| | - Quratulain Butt
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA
| | - Murat Guvendiren
- Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA
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Gare S, Chel S, Abhinav TK, Dhyani V, Jana S, Giri L. Mapping of structural arrangement of cells and collective calcium transients: an integrated framework combining live cell imaging using confocal microscopy and UMAP-assisted HDBSCAN-based approach. Integr Biol (Camb) 2022; 14:184-203. [PMID: 36670549 DOI: 10.1093/intbio/zyac017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Live cell calcium (Ca2+) imaging is one of the important tools to record cellular activity during in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies. Specially, high-resolution microscopy can provide valuable dynamic information at the single cell level. One of the major challenges in the implementation of such imaging schemes is to extract quantitative information in the presence of significant heterogeneity in Ca2+ responses attained due to variation in structural arrangement and drug distribution. To fill this gap, we propose time-lapse imaging using spinning disk confocal microscopy and machine learning-enabled framework for automated grouping of Ca2+ spiking patterns. Time series analysis is performed to correlate the drug induced cellular responses to self-assembly pattern present in multicellular systems. The framework is designed to reduce the large-scale dynamic responses using uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP). In particular, we propose the suitability of hierarchical DBSCAN (HDBSCAN) in view of reduced number of hyperparameters. We find UMAP-assisted HDBSCAN outperforms existing approaches in terms of clustering accuracy in segregation of Ca2+ spiking patterns. One of the novelties includes the application of non-linear dimension reduction in segregation of the Ca2+ transients with statistical similarity. The proposed pipeline for automation was also proved to be a reproducible and fast method with minimal user input. The algorithm was used to quantify the effect of cellular arrangement and stimulus level on collective Ca2+ responses induced by GPCR targeting drug. The analysis revealed a significant increase in subpopulation containing sustained oscillation corresponding to higher packing density. In contrast to traditional measurement of rise time and decay ratio from Ca2+ transients, the proposed pipeline was used to classify the complex patterns with longer duration and cluster-wise model fitting. The two-step process has a potential implication in deciphering biophysical mechanisms underlying the Ca2+ oscillations in context of structural arrangement between cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suman Gare
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Soumita Chel
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - T K Abhinav
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Vaibhav Dhyani
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Soumya Jana
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Lopamudra Giri
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
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Rexius-Hall ML, Khalil NN, Escopete SS, Li X, Hu J, Yuan H, Parker SJ, McCain ML. A myocardial infarct border-zone-on-a-chip demonstrates distinct regulation of cardiac tissue function by an oxygen gradient. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabn7097. [PMID: 36475790 PMCID: PMC9728975 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn7097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
After a myocardial infarction, the boundary between the injured, hypoxic tissue and the adjacent viable, normoxic tissue, known as the border zone, is characterized by an oxygen gradient. Yet, the impact of an oxygen gradient on cardiac tissue function is poorly understood, largely due to limitations of existing experimental models. Here, we engineered a microphysiological system to controllably expose engineered cardiac tissue to an oxygen gradient that mimics the border zone and measured the effects of the gradient on electromechanical function and the transcriptome. The gradient delayed calcium release, reuptake, and propagation; decreased diastolic and peak systolic stress; and increased expression of inflammatory cascades that are hallmarks of myocardial infarction. These changes were distinct from those observed in tissues exposed to uniform normoxia or hypoxia, demonstrating distinct regulation of cardiac tissue phenotypes by an oxygen gradient. Our border-zone-on-a-chip model advances functional and mechanistic insight into oxygen-dependent cardiac tissue pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan L. Rexius-Hall
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Natalie N. Khalil
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Sean S. Escopete
- Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Xin Li
- Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
| | - Jiayi Hu
- Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
| | - Hongyan Yuan
- Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
| | - Sarah J. Parker
- Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Megan L. McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Corresponding author.
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7
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Barthélémy F, Santoso JW, Rabichow L, Jin R, Little I, Nelson SF, McCain ML, Miceli MC. Modeling Patient-Specific Muscular Dystrophy Phenotypes and Therapeutic Responses in Reprogrammed Myotubes Engineered on Micromolded Gelatin Hydrogels. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:830415. [PMID: 35465312 PMCID: PMC9020228 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.830415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In vitro models of patient-derived muscle allow for more efficient development of genetic medicines for the muscular dystrophies, which often present mutation-specific pathologies. One popular strategy to generate patient-specific myotubes involves reprogramming dermal fibroblasts to a muscle lineage through MyoD induction. However, creating physiologically relevant, reproducible tissues exhibiting multinucleated, aligned myotubes with organized striations is dependent on the introduction of physicochemical cues that mimic the native muscle microenvironment. Here, we engineered patient-specific control and dystrophic muscle tissues in vitro by culturing and differentiating MyoD–directly reprogrammed fibroblasts isolated from one healthy control subject, three patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and two Limb Girdle 2A/R1 (LGMD2A/R1) patients on micromolded gelatin hydrogels. Engineered DMD and LGMD2A/R1 tissues demonstrated varying levels of defects in α-actinin expression and organization relative to control, depending on the mutation. In genetically relevant DMD tissues amenable to mRNA reframing by targeting exon 44 or 45 exclusion, exposure to exon skipping antisense oligonucleotides modestly increased myotube coverage and alignment and rescued dystrophin protein expression. These findings highlight the value of engineered culture substrates in guiding the organization of reprogrammed patient fibroblasts into aligned muscle tissues, thereby extending their value as tools for exploration and dissection of the cellular and molecular basis of genetic muscle defects, rescue, and repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Barthélémy
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Jeffrey W. Santoso
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Laura Rabichow
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Rongcheng Jin
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Isaiah Little
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Stanley F. Nelson
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Megan L. McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: M. Carrie Miceli, ; Megan L. McCain,
| | - M. Carrie Miceli
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: M. Carrie Miceli, ; Megan L. McCain,
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Petersen AP, McCain ML. Quantifying Propagation Velocity from Engineered Cardiac Tissues with High-Speed Fluorescence Microscopy and Automated Analysis Software. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2485:133-145. [PMID: 35618903 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2261-2_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Many acquired or inherited forms of heart disease as well as drugs are known to increase the susceptibility of patients to arrhythmias. To predict arrhythmogenic events and discover new therapeutic strategies to mitigate them, approaches to efficiently quantify the velocity of propagation in engineered cardiac tissues are important research tools. In this chapter, we describe how to collect videos of propagating calcium waves in engineered cardiac tissues with a high-speed camera mounted on an inverted fluorescence microscope. We also provide instructions for downloading and using our software package to analyze these videos and calculate propagation velocity. These techniques should be compatible with a variety of voltage- or calcium-sensitive fluorescent dyes or genetically encoded sensors. Although these approaches were originally developed for engineered neonatal rat cardiac tissues, the same procedures can likely be used with human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes, paving the way for patient-specific analysis of propagation due to features such as tissue architecture, substrate rigidity, genetic mutations, or drug treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P Petersen
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Megan L McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Yip JK, Sarkar D, Petersen AP, Gipson JN, Tao J, Kale S, Rexius-Hall ML, Cho N, Khalil NN, Kapadia R, McCain ML. Contact photolithography-free integration of patterned and semi-transparent indium tin oxide stimulation electrodes into polydimethylsiloxane-based heart-on-a-chip devices for streamlining physiological recordings. LAB ON A CHIP 2021; 21:674-687. [PMID: 33439202 PMCID: PMC7968549 DOI: 10.1039/d0lc00948b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Controlled electrical stimulation is essential for evaluating the physiology of cardiac tissues engineered in heart-on-a-chip devices. However, existing stimulation techniques, such as external platinum electrodes or opaque microelectrode arrays patterned on glass substrates, have limited throughput, reproducibility, or compatibility with other desirable features of heart-on-a-chip systems, such as the use of tunable culture substrates, imaging accessibility, or enclosure in a microfluidic device. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO), a conductive, semi-transparent, and biocompatible material, was deposited onto glass and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated coverslips as parallel or point stimulation electrodes using laser-cut tape masks. ITO caused substrate discoloration but did not prevent brightfield imaging. ITO-patterned substrates were microcontact printed with arrayed lines of fibronectin and seeded with neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, which assembled into aligned cardiac tissues. ITO deposited as parallel or point electrodes was connected to an external stimulator and used to successfully stimulate micropatterned cardiac tissues to generate calcium transients or propagating calcium waves, respectively. ITO electrodes were also integrated into the cantilever-based muscular thin film (MTF) assay to stimulate and quantify the contraction of micropatterned cardiac tissues. To demonstrate the potential for multiple ITO electrodes to be integrated into larger, multiplexed systems, two sets of ITO electrodes were deposited onto a single substrate and used to stimulate the contraction of distinct micropatterned cardiac tissues independently. Collectively, these approaches for integrating ITO electrodes into heart-on-a-chip devices are relatively facile, modular, and scalable and could have diverse applications in microphysiological systems of excitable tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joycelyn K Yip
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Debarghya Sarkar
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Andrew P Petersen
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Jennifer N Gipson
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Jun Tao
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Salil Kale
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Megan L Rexius-Hall
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Nathan Cho
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Natalie N Khalil
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Rehan Kapadia
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
| | - Megan L McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. and Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
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