Ricerc@Sapienza

Cells are able to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli occurring in their microenvironment via mechanotransduction, the intracellular process through which mechanical forces are converted into biological response. A disruption in the ability to properly respond to mechanical stimulations results in a pathologic condition, including osteoporosis, developmental disorders, arthritis and cancer. Cyclic substrate deformation and fluid shear stress are the most widely studied mechanical stimuli involved in cells. Since the in vivo environment is the combination of these mechanical stimulations, the aim of this project is the development of a novel experimental device for simultaneous application of substrate deformation and fluid shear stress in vitro, allowing us to further investigate the cell mechanotransduction process in a better controlled cell culture environment for several pathological conditions. The system will be constituted by an uniaxial stretching device incorporated with a fluid silicone path in a stretch chamber, in which the cells to be tested will be seeded. The stretching system will be designed to induce a controlled cyclic stimulation in a large range of amplitude and frequency to the stretch chamber, incorporated into the fluid path, through the displacement of a linear actuator. The fluid silicone path will be developed by using a 3D printed mold and will be connected to a controlled syringe pump to regulate the flow rate. The entire system will be controlled by specific software for the synchronization of the two mechanical stimuli and it will be accurately characterized for a complete range of stimulation parameters. At last, the proposed system will be employed to study the effects of combined mechanical signals on human Osteosarcoma cell lines with different features. The morphological and biological changes of the treated tissue following the mechanical treatments will be analysed.