Real-time stressing and force sensing on biological cells

Biological cells possess biochemical modules and physical shapes to maintain appropriate biological function. Different types of force and deformation are applied on cells to investigate the response and mechanical properties. In the biophysics field, studies use indentation deformation on cell membranes to examine the elastic-viscoelastic properties of biological cells. Experiments in different predefined profiles and frequencies are required to test the fidelity and predictive capability of cells creep function. The accuracy and the repeatability of the given stimulus are the significant factor in the experiments to obtain reliable measurements, which are very difficult to realize using manual operations. Automatic micromanipulation systems have substantial advantages over the conventional manual operations in aspects of reliability, accuracy and repeatability. In this paper, an automatic micromanipulation system is introduced and a series of experiments are conducted to stress zebrafish embryo in different sinusoidal profiles. The experimental results show that the system is able to stress the biological cell in desired stimulation and give consistent force outputs in realtime, meanwhile mechanical properties of the zebrafish embryo are also analyzed.