Our proposed design solution aims to be a bioreactor that can support a physis from the distal calf ulna so that researchers may experiment on the tissue as it grows. It is comprised of 4 primary components: an acceptance component (tank) that mimics physiological conditions and allows for physeal growth, a component that can place a compressive mechanical load on physeal tissue, a component that can deliver nutrients, chemical stimuli and other materials to the tissue, and a component that can help visualize parts of the physis or to view the physis in its entirety. The tank should be used to grow the physis and keep it alive outside an incubator long enough to image it, but long term storage of and experimentation on the physis must be done inside an incubator.
The design implementation can be broken down into the following components:
1. Project 1: Building/Constructing the Bioreactor
A. Parts need to be ordered along with distal calf ulna samples from which physis samples can be isolated
B. Parts need to be assembled so that the final bioreactor is ready for testing and implementation
2. Project 2: Verifying/Testing the Bioreactor
A. Vital parameters such as CO2 and pH levels and temperature need to be verified as being within an acceptable range in before physis samples are loaded into the bioreactor
i. CO2/pH can be measured with a pH probe
ii. Temperature can be verified by checking the thermostat on the incubator
B. The media delivery system needs to be tested to ensure that media is delivered properly and that an O2 gradient can be created
C. Physeal growth and viability needs to be tested to ensure that the bioreactor can keep a physis sample alive for one week. This will be done by measuring viability and cell growth after one week within the bioreactor.
i. Viability can be verified using vital dyes and epifluorescence microscopy
ii. Growth can be measured/approximated visually from microscopy
D. The mechanical loading component needs to be verified before and while it interfaces with and applies a load to the physis
i. Loading done before can be done on a sensor or meter that verifies that the correct load was applied by the component
ii. Overall integration of the loading component will involve periodic qualitative observations and quantitative length measurements of the physis before, during, and after loading within the bioreactor