A micro channel device for biomechanical analysis to apply a mechanical stimulus on large number of cells

Many researches have reported that the mechanical stimulus is important factor of the histogenesis and cellular differentiation. However, it is not clearly understood for cellular nucleus how to respond to the mechanical stimulus. Our purpose is applying a mechanical stimulus to cells for gene expression assay. On this paper, we report development of a micro-channel device and evaluating the device by observation. This device is designed to have a low-height channel and cells are pressed when passing through that channel. In experiment, we succeed in observing that cells and nucleuses are deformed in the channel. In addition, 2.0 × 10 4 cells are collected from this device.