HYDROGEL-BASED PORTABLE ELECTRICAL STIMULATION CULTURE FILM FOR SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS Kuniaki Nagamine, * Takuya Hirata, Hirokazu Kaji, Makoto Kanzaki, and Matsuhiko Nishizawa Tohoku University, JAPAN ABSTRACT Purpose of this study is to develop the hydrogel-based portable electrical stimulation culture film for skeletal muscle cells. The film will be applicable for in vitro muscle secretion assay and muscle cell- based drug delivery system by which the muscle exercise-dependent secretion of native and recombinant proteins can be controlled by electrical stimulation. KEYWORDS: Hydrogel-based culture, skeletal muscle cell, electrode INTRODUCTION Hydrogels are suitably soft and therefore constitute promising substrate materials for cell culture. In particular, by using a free standing hydrogel film as a culture substrate, the cells on the film become portable and can be combined with analytical devices on demand. In our previous study, skeletal muscle cells supported by a fibrin gel film showed higher contractile activity than cells adhering on a con- ventional solid culture dish [1-4]. On the other hand, we have fabricated the hydrogel-based de- vices that remain highly electrically conductive under substantial stretch and bending. Using a simple technique involving a combination of chemical polymerization and electropolymeriza- tion of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PE- DOT), a tight bonding of a conductive composite of PEDOT and polyurethane (PU) to an elastic double-network hydrogel is achieved to make ful- ly organic PEDOT/PU–hydrogel hybrids [5]. Purpose of this study is to develop the hydrogel- based portable electrical stimulation culture film for skeletal muscle cells. By combining hydrogel film-supported cell micropatetrns and microelec- trode arrays, free-standing electrical stimulation culture film was developed for skeletal muscle engineering. The film will be applicable for in vitro muscle secretion assay and muscle cell- based drug delivery system by which the muscle exercise-dependent secretion of native and recom- binant proteins can be controlled by electrical stimulation (Figure 1). EXPERIMENTAL Hydrogel bonding using fibrin glue The prepolymer solution containing 15 mg mL_1 fibrinogen and 10 U mL_1 thrombin in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), 20 mM HEPES (pH 7.0) was prepared just before this painting pro- cess. Then, the painted hydrogel surface was placed onto the clean surface of a second hydrogel (Figure Figure 1: The concept of this study: the hydrogel- based portable electrical stimulation culture film for skeletal muscle cells. 627 978-0-9798064-8-3/μTAS 2015/$20©15CBMS-0001 19 th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences October 25-29, 2015, Gyeongju, KOREA