Masters Applied Projects

Project 1

Investigation of Reactive Oxidative Stress using a Uniaxial Stretch Model to Simulate Physiological Micromotion Induced Cyclic Strain on Brain

Student: Juliet Addo

Mentors: Dr. Arati Sridharan - SBHSE
Dr. Jit Muthuswamy - SBHSE
Dr. Bradley Greger – SBHSE

YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/83667965062

Time: 10am – noon

Abstract

Physiological micromotion, such as breathing and vascular pulsations, impose microscale stresses and strains on brain tissue. In this study, we hypothesize that periodic stresses and strains modulate oxidative and nitrosative stress in neurons, which can impact overall neuronal function. We have developed a uniaxial stretch model to simulate physiological micromotion such as breathing and heart pulsations to test the mechanobiological effect of periodic strain on cultured neurons. The uniaxial stretch model consists of a stepper motor attached to a cell-seeded strip controlled by an Arduino based microcontroller. We will utilize a test condition of 3% strain at 1 Hz for 4 hours to simulate physiological micromotion. We will characterize the level of oxidative stress using Mitotracker™ based dye and nitrosative stress using Daf-2da as a biomarker. We will also assess the mechanobiological effect of periodic strain on expression of actin (indicative of cytoskeletal health) and Piezo1 (mechanosensitive ion channel implicated in modulating cell membrane potentials) in immunocytochemistry studies. The results from these studies will help to understand biological mechanisms that occur at the neural interface that can affect the reliability of implants.