First, attachment of 3D artificial heart muscle to the external force transducers requires physical handling of the 3D tissue and this process inherently changes tissue properties. record the EKG properties of 3D artificial heart muscle. illustrates a few examples of some of the variables that need to be recorded at every stage of the tissue fabrication pathway During the tissue fabrication process, isolated cells and later, 3D tissue are maintained Mouse monoclonal to His tag 6X in culture for several days and often times, for weeks. During this culture period, individual tissue culture plates are removed from the controlled culture environment at intermittent time points. While the time period for functional assessment varies, a common strategy is to record functional properties every 2C3 days. Once the tissue culture plates are removed, the 3D tissue constructs are attached to external sensors for functional recording. The functional properties are then recorded for a specific time period, say for 1C2 min. During functional assessment, the 3D artificial tissue is exposed to the external environment and is physically handled during functional assessment. As a result, the properties of the 3D tissue are altered MUT056399 during functional assessment. After functional assessment, the 3D tissue is sacrificed. This process is repeated at several time points during the tissue culture process. Lets look at one example. During the fabrication of 3D artificial heart muscle, researchers are often interested in measuring changes in the contractile properties as a function culture time. In order to measure contractile properties, the tissue culture plate is first removed from the cell culture incubator. One end of the 3D heart muscle tissue is then connected to an external force transducer. Changes in contractile properties are then recorded in response to electrical stimulation or in response to changes in calcium or some other chemical compound. There are several limitations of this method. First, attachment of 3D artificial heart muscle to the external force transducers requires physical handling of the 3D tissue and this process inherently changes tissue properties. Second, data collection MUT056399 is only for a short period of time and provides information about 3D artificial heart muscle at a single time point; such data is limited and cannot be used to make any conclusions about the contractile properties as a function of time. Third and less obvious, is the limitation of the current generation of force transducers, which do not have the high level of sensitivity required to measure small changes in tissue functionality. Forth, any data obtained for the contractile properties of 3D artificial heart muscle cannot be used to change the culture environment in a positive feedback loop that regulates the culture environment. These limitations point to the need for a new generation of sensors that are better equipped to record changes in the functional performance of 3D artificial MUT056399 tissue and provide data that can be used to regulate the tissue and organ fabrication process. In . Fig. 2.2, we provide an overview of sensor technology as applied to the tissue MUT056399 and organ fabrication process. The figure illustrates sensor technology as applied to 3D artificial heart muscle; this example is designed to illustrate the integration of sensor technology with the fabrication of 3D artificial heart muscle. However, these principles can be applied to any tissue and organ fabrication scenario. So what are the most important variables that need to be monitored during the fabrication and culture of 3D artificial heart muscle? While there are many variables that need to.
