Using microfluidic devices to study in-plane elasticities of the endothelial cells in different directions under flow shearing

Physical properties of endothelial cells can be altered by their microenvironments, and are highly associated with various biological conditions. Here, we develop a microfluidic device with embedded pressure sensors to measure elasticities of endothelial cells in two orthogonal directions along the substrate on which they attach. The attachment makes the membrane flexural rigidity change and further causes the pressure sensor sensitivity variation. In the experiment, we exploit a fluidic shear stress to align endothelial cells. The pressure sensors are used to estimate the endothelial cells elasticities in directions parallel and perpendicular to the flow directions based on mechanics plate theory. Copyright ? (2018) by Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society. All rights reserved.