Measuring Mechanical Properties of Cell Sheets by a Tensile Test Using a Self-Attachable Fixture

In this paper, we present a tensile test system and a new self-attachable fixture for measuring mechanical properties of cell sheets. Previously when measuring the mechanical properties of cell sheets, the sheets would be damaged because they dried out. With our system, the tensile test can be carried out while the cell sheets are in the culture medium, so there is no damage by drying. Previously, it has also been difficult to attach a cell sheet in the tensile test system owing to the structure of the conventional fixture, and there has been no tensile test system which had a measurement range that covered the tension force range of the cell sheets. Therefore, we have addressed these problems by developing a self-attachable fixture and a tensile test system. To confirm suitability of the fixture and test system, we measured mechanical properties of two different kinds of cultured cell sheets, C2C12 (cells mouse myoblast cells) and NIH-3T3 (3T3) cells (mouse fibroblast cells), and of the same kinds of sheets treated with cytochalasin-D. We confirmed differences in mechanical properties for each kind of cell sheet. This indicates that our new fixture and test system are applicable for measurement of mechanical properties of cell sheets without damage of the sheets by drying.