| 초록 |
Mechanobiology is a field of science at the interface of biology and engineering and focuses on the way that physical forces and changes in cell or tissues mechanics contribute to development, physiology, and pathological condition. A number of tubular organs exist in our body, e.g. blood and lymphatic vessels, airways of lungs, and urethra, inside which fluids flow and exert mechanical forces, e.g. hydrostatic pressure, circumferential stress, and shear stress on luminal walls. Characteristics of the mechanical force vary upon geometrical and mechanical properties of luminal walls, which may also be varied temporally during development or pathogenesis. In light of this, a development of in vitro models of tubular organs whose geometrical and mechanical properties, and hence, the forces exerted by fluids on cells comprising luminal walls can be varied systematically would be helpful in studying mechanobiology of tubular organs. Here we present the unique method to develop the soft tubular microfluidic device that recapitulates geometrical and mechanical properties, and thus the forces exerted by fluids, of vasculatures and their pathological condition. |
