Development of a device to stretch tissue-like materials and to measure their mechanical properties by scanning probe microscopy.

We have developed a new stretch device to investigate the biomechanical responses to an external loading force on a tissue-like material consisting of cells and a collagen gel. Collagen gel, a typical matrix found abundantly in the connective tissue, was attached to an elastic chamber that was precoated with a thin layer of collagen. Madin-Darby canine kidney cells that were cultured on the collagen gel were stretched in a uniaxial direction via deformation of the elastic chamber. Changes in the morphology and stiffness of the tissue-like structure were measured before and after the stretch using wide-range scanning probe microscopy (WR-SPM). The change in cellular morphology was heterogeneous, and there was a twofold increase in the intercellular junction due to the stretch. In addition to the WR-SPM measurements, this device enables observation of the spatial distribution of cytoskeletal proteins such as vimentin and alpha-catenin using immunofluorescent microscopy. We concluded that the stretch device we have reported in this paper is useful for measuring the mechanical response of a tissue-like material over a range of cell sizes when exposed to an external loading force.