A potential application for tissue engineering is the development of functional, three-dimensional vascular constructs to aid in drug discovery. The goal of the project was to create a device that measures the contractile force of vascular ring constructs in response to chemical stimulation to model blood vessel function in vitro. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device consisting of a well and a center base with four extruding microposts was developed. Tissue rings were mounted on the posts and exposed to saline solution with or without potassium. Potassium-mediated smooth muscle contraction caused micropost deflection, which was measured with a stereomicroscope and used to calculate force. This presents a method to quantify the contraction response of tissue ring constructs.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Yatim, Mohamed Tarek
• Vecchiarelli, Colleen E.
• Su, Alison
• Cyr, Matthew Ryan

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042512-083935

Advisor

• Rolle, Marsha Whitney

Year

• 2012

Date created

• 2012-04-25

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biomedical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Last modified

• 2021-02-02