Toward Biorobotic Systems with Muscle Cell Actuators

The authors aim to develop muscle cell actuators driven by a photostimulation. Recently, bioactuators that exhibit self-organization have been attracting a lot of attention, because biological devices are expected to have significant abilities such as self-reproduction, self-repair, self-assembly. Based on this consideration, we have developed a myofilament-actuator, where we have utilized effects of a mechanical stimulation to construct the mechanical structure of such a bio-actuator. More specifically, we found that induction of differentiation into myofilament-like cells from a cultured myoblasts C2C12 is promoted under the mechanical stimulation. Under above circumstances, the next step is to find an appropriate method for driving the bio-actuators. To do so, we introduce channelrhodopsin-2(ChR2) which works as both a photoreceptor and an ion channel. Based on the above, we cultured muscle cells embedded with the gene of this protein. Then, we observed that the muscle cell actuator is contracted by a blue light stimulation.