Development of Polydimethylsiloxane Substrates with Tunable Elastic Modulus to Study Cell Mechanobiology in Muscle and Nerve
University of Pittsburgh · Carnegie Mellon University · +1 more institution
Abstract
Mechanics is an important component in the regulation of cell shape, proliferation, migration and differentiation during normal homeostasis and disease states. Biomaterials that match the elastic modulus of soft tissues have been effective for studying this cell mechanobiology, but improvements are needed in order to investigate a wider range of physicochemical properties in a controlled manner. We hypothesized that polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) blends could be used as the basis of a tunable system where the elastic modulus could be adjusted to match most types of soft tissue. To test this we formulated blends of two commercially available PDMS types, Sylgard 527 and Sylgard 184, which enabled us to fabricate…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 10.12
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 72
Authors
4Topics & keywords
- Polydimethylsiloxane
- Mechanobiology
- Materials science
- Elastic modulus
- Biomedical engineering
- Microcontact printing
- Neurite
- Nanotechnology