Electric Measurement of Cultured Myoblast Oriented on Scaffold with Micro-pattern

The electric impedance of cultured myoblasts oriented on the scaffold with micro pattern has been measured between surface electrodes in vitro. Several parallel lines of micro rectangular ridges (0.001 mm height, 0.003 mm width, and 0.003 mm interval) have been made between a pair of the surface titanium electrodes at the surface of the scaffold of glass by the photolithography technique. C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line) was cultured for 4 days on the micro-patterned scaffold in the medium of D-MEM (Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium). The electric impedance between electrodes was measured once a day with the sinusoidal electric waves (frequency, 1 Hz < f < 1 MHz; amplitude, ±0.1 V < V1 < ±5 V). The experimental result shows that electric impedance has frequency characteristic and that the impedance of the capacitance component increases with proliferation of myoblasts. The orientation of myoblasts is detected by the impedance between the surface electrodes, when the orientation is varied by the direction of micro ridges of the scaffold.