Effect of Mechanical and Electrical Stimulation on the Differentiation and Orientation of C2C12 Cells

The low differentiation and orientation rate of C2C12 cells is a key factor that restricts the performance improvement of the bio-hybrid robots driven by C2C12 cells. It has been demonstrated that the application of external stimuli during in the process of cell culture can contribute to C2C12 cells growth and differentiation. In this study, we applied different parameters of mechanical stimulation, electrical stimulation and coupled stimulation to C2C12 cells, and observed the differentiation and orientation of cells to investigate the optimal stimulation parameters and the effect of force-electric coupling on the differentiation and orientation of C2C12 cells. The results show that the optimal mechanical stimulation parameter is 10% static strain and electrical stimulation parameter is 1V/cm. The results of this study are a referable protocol for improving differentiation and orientation rate of C2C12 cells.