MECHANOMEDICINE: applications of mechanobiology to medical sciences and next-generation medical technologies

Figures

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  Fig. 1.. A: The stretch apparatus for a microscope and the stretch chamber. B: An endothelial cell subjected to stretch. C: The stretch apparatus for biochemical experimenation.

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  Fig. 2.. Microfluidic device to apply shear stress to cells. A:Cell cultures in a microchannel chip. Shear stress can be generated in the microchannel. B:Activation of NFkB in response to shear stress (left; control, right; shear).

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  Fig. 3.. The self-assembling peptide SPG-178 hydrogel scaffold. A: A molecular model of SPG-178. B: A schematic diagram of the formation of the hydrogel from the peptide monomer.

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  Fig. 4.. Current treatment modalities for infertility. A: swim-up and density gradient centrifugation methods for sperm separation. B: static culture with mineral oil for fertilized egg cell culture.

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  Fig. 5.. Microfluidic motile sperm sorter Qualis® is composed of four chambers named as Chamber [1], [2], [3], [4] and a micro channel being connected to each chamber. After applying sperm sorting medium to Chamber [2], [3], [4] and semen sample to Chamber [1] at an appropriate amount, two streams of fluid with laminar flow can be formed in parallel ([1]→[4], [2]→[3]). Only motile spermatozoa are able to swim into the parallel stream, after which they are isolated in Chamber [3].

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  Fig. 6.. Tilting Embryo Culture System. This device consists of a control unit and a motor unit with a tilting plate where four-well chambers can be mounted. Mouse embryos were cultured at a tilt angle of 20 degrees with a holding time of 1 min, and then rotated at a tilt angle of -20 degrees with a holding time of 1 min, after which the cycle is repeated.