Preliminary study of micromechanical stress delivery for cell biology studies

Cell programs as growth and differentiation are determined by the chemical and physical characteristics of the extra cellular matrix (ECM). Changes in the stiffness of the ECM have been reported to affect cell differentiation. On the other hand several cell types spend most of their life moving from anatomical compartment having radically different ECM physical characteristic as for the white blood cells and tumor metastatic cell clones. Both cell types are moving continuously from blood and other biological fluids in solid organ tissues. This behavior exposes the cells to a mechanical stress stimulation that could affect several biological parameters that are relevant in numerous physiological (inflammation) and pathological (cancer disease) settings. In order to deliver fixed quantities of mechanical stress a microfluidic circuit with a microgear pump has been built and characterized. In this paper preliminary studies focus on the description of fabrication and optimization of the microfluidic circuit and on the biological response of the mechanical stressed cells as percentage of living tumor cells (viability) that remain after stress delivery.