An air-driven microdevice to tune the anisotropic curvature of cell adhesion plane to pursue the mechanobiology of curved surface

A new microdevice controlling the curvature of cell adhering plane is proposed. This microdevice is composed of a cell culture chamber with thin silicone membrane, a microslit and a vacuum chamber. Controlling the air pressure, the curvature of the cell adhering plane can be flexibly tuned in a spatiotemporal way. To prove the concept, vascular smooth muscle is cultured on the curved surface and their response to sudden curvature change is monitored. This microdevice would contribute to pursue fundamental question on how cells recognize the surrounding geometry, which is one of the core interests in the mechanobiology field.