Low-cost microcontroller platform for studying lymphatic biomechanics in vitro

JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS

卷:46

Article

Kornuta, Jeffrey A.¹  Nipper, Matthew E.¹  Dixon, J. Brandon¹ 

[1] Georgia Inst Technol, George W Woodruff Sch Mech Engn, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA

关键词: Wall shear stress;    Peristaltic pump;    Lymphatic endothelial cells;    Arduino;    Microcontroller platform;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jbiomech.2012.09.031

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The pumping innate to collecting lymphatic vessels routinely exposes the endothelium to oscillatory wall shear stress and other dynamic forces. However, studying the mechanical sensitivity of the lymphatic endothelium remains a difficult task due to limitations of commercial or custom systems to apply a variety of time-varying stresses in vitro. Current biomechanical in vitro testing devices are very expensive, limited in capability, or highly complex; rendering them largely inaccessible to the endothelial cell biology community. To address these shortcomings, the authors propose a reliable, low-cost platform for augmenting the capabilities of commercially available pumps to produce a wide variety of flow rate waveforms. In particular, the Arduino Uno, a microcontroller development board, is used to provide open-loop control of a digital peristaltic pump using precisely timed serial commands. In addition, the flexibility of this platform is further demonstrated through its support of a custom-built cell-straining device capable of producing oscillatory strains with varying amplitudes and frequencies. Hence, this microcontroller development board is shown to be an inexpensive, precise, and easy-to-use tool for supplementing in vitro assays to quantify the effects of biomechanical forces on lymphatic endothelial cells. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free