A Programmable Long Term Electrical Stimulation System for Cell Cultures on Microelectrode Arrays
Ahola, Antti (2010)
2010
Sähkötekniikan koulutusohjelma
Luonnontieteiden ja ympäristötekniikan tiedekunta
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2010-06-23
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201006301199
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201006301199
Tiivistelmä
Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) provide a means for measuring the electrical activity of cell cultures and their electrical stimulation locally, but their viability for long term stimulation of entire cultures is limited at best. For this purpose, a novel platform for electrically stimulating excitable cells on MEAs in long term cell culturing was devised. The designed and implemented system is a programmable electrical stimulation platform, capable of producing different kinds of electrical stimuli for several days on its own in a controlled environment, such as an incubator.
The system consists of three parts: a MEA container with stimulation electrodes, electronics for creating and amplifying the stimulation signal and a software designed for controlling the stimulus on a personal computer. Apart from the waveform generator and the personal computer, all aspects of the device were designed and built for this thesis. This work is a part of Stemfunc, an Academy of Finland funded project for developing novel methods to produce transplantable functional neuronal cells and cardiomyocytes from stem cells.
This thesis presents the research done for building the system, its capabilities, the results obtained by using it and gives viable plans and ideas for future research by using the device.
The designed system is capable of electrically stimulating cell cultures by user defined stimulus waveforms. When compared with the possibilities provided by existing commercial systems for cell culture stimulation, the designed system provides greater customization possibilities of several cell cultures with a low production cost. It is also among the few long term electrical stimulation platforms of cell cultures that utilize the microelectrode arrays, with the stimulation occurring in an incubator. /Kir10
The system consists of three parts: a MEA container with stimulation electrodes, electronics for creating and amplifying the stimulation signal and a software designed for controlling the stimulus on a personal computer. Apart from the waveform generator and the personal computer, all aspects of the device were designed and built for this thesis. This work is a part of Stemfunc, an Academy of Finland funded project for developing novel methods to produce transplantable functional neuronal cells and cardiomyocytes from stem cells.
This thesis presents the research done for building the system, its capabilities, the results obtained by using it and gives viable plans and ideas for future research by using the device.
The designed system is capable of electrically stimulating cell cultures by user defined stimulus waveforms. When compared with the possibilities provided by existing commercial systems for cell culture stimulation, the designed system provides greater customization possibilities of several cell cultures with a low production cost. It is also among the few long term electrical stimulation platforms of cell cultures that utilize the microelectrode arrays, with the stimulation occurring in an incubator. /Kir10