AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Biomaterial Interfaces Wednesday Sessions
       Session BI-WeA

Paper BI-WeA10
Measuring Cardiomyocyte Contractions on Silicon Carbide Micromechanical Resonators

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 5:20 pm, Room 211D

Session: Biophysics, Membranes and Nanoscale Biological Interfaces
Presenter: Hao Tang, Case Western Reserve University
Authors: H. Tang, Case Western Reserve University
H. Jia, Case Western Reserve University
P.X.-L. Feng, Case Western Reserve University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Heart functions are mainly determined by its contractility. Monitoring the contraction curve at single cell level may help attain a deeper understanding of cardiomyocyte contraction process[1], heart failure mechanism[2] and potential methods for drug screening. The contraction frequency, contraction amplitude as well as contraction and relaxation rates of cardiomyocytes all together compose the contraction curve and reflect the health condition of heart tissues.

At the single-cell level, most contractility measurement methods are based on measuring the length change[2] or force change[3] of single cardiomyocyte. Methods based on length change often require massive and fast image processing, therefore, its time resolution is restricted by the capturing and processing speed, and spatial resolution is limited by the diffraction of optical system (typically 0.2um). Methods based on force change require complex readout elements that are compatible with biological environments, which on the other hand results in complex fabrication process.

In this work, we take an initial step to measure the cardiomyocyte contraction in a dynamic mode using SiC micromechanical resonators. As a superior material for bioMEMS platforms, SiC has excellent mechanical, optical, chemical, thermal properties as well as unique biocompatibility[4],[5]. Frequency-shift-based sensing using micromechanical resonators[6],[7] offers possibilities of monitoring mass distribution changes during cardiomyocyte contraction process with high sensitivity. Our dynamic sensing method provides an alternative for cardiomyocyte contraction measurement, with promising applications in heart failure research and drug screening.

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[3] G. Lin, et al., IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 48, no. 9, pp. 996-1006, 2001.

[4] H. Jia, et al., MEMS 2015, pp. 698-701, Estoril, Portugal, Jan. 18-22, 2015.

[5] C. Coletti, et al., Silicon Carbide Biotechnology, 1st Edition, pp. 119-152, 2012.

[6] K. Park, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., vol. 107, no. 48, pp. 20691-20696, 2010.

[7] M.S. Hanay, et al., Nature Nanotech., vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 339-344, 2015.