Journal: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Article Title: Novel, low-cost bioreactor for in vitro electrical stimulation of cardiac cells

doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1531731

Figure Lengend Snippet: Bioreactor Design. (A) CAD rendering of the custom bioreactor design. 3D-printed plastic is shown in orange. The stir bar in the center is shown with arrows denoting rotation. Larger blue arrows point toward inner and outer electrodes. (B) Bottom view of bioreactor design. Arrows point to inner and outer electrodes, showing how they are each a single, continuous metallic strip that slots into grooves in the bottom of the design. (C) Cross-sectional view of bioreactor design, showing the device inside of a well of a six-well plate. Cell culture media is shown in pink. The area intended for cell culture is located between the parallel electrodes within two of the six sub-wells. (D) Photograph of six bioreactors assembled and placed into a six-well plate.

Article Snippet: 3D printed parts for the bioreactor were designed using Fusion 360 (Autodesk Inc., San Francisco) and part files are available upon request.

Techniques: Stripping Membranes, Cell Culture

Journal: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Article Title: Novel, low-cost bioreactor for in vitro electrical stimulation of cardiac cells

doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1531731

Figure Lengend Snippet: Custom signal generator for bioreactor. (A) Block diagram of electrical components for the custom signal generator. (B) Photograph of assembled signal generator in custom housing, inset showing zoomed view of the LCD screen. (C) Voltage plot of 1V, 10 ms, 20 Hz pulse train generated by the custom signal generator and applied to a bioreactor. (D) Plot of measured current through a bioreactor for the same signal parameters.

Article Snippet: 3D printed parts for the bioreactor were designed using Fusion 360 (Autodesk Inc., San Francisco) and part files are available upon request.

Techniques: Blocking Assay, Generated

Journal: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Article Title: Novel, low-cost bioreactor for in vitro electrical stimulation of cardiac cells

doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1531731

Figure Lengend Snippet: Computational modeling of electric field and fluid flow. (A) 3D electric field modeling of entire bioreactor. Cathode and anode are defined as labeled, with a 1 V applied potential used for modeling purposes. The cross-section view shown in the center is used for further 2D plots. (B) Cross section view of the electric field a single sub-well. The thin black line denotes the electric field trace 100 μm from the bottom of the well, plotted in (C) as electric field vs distance from the anode. (D) Cross-section view of current density within a single sub-well. The thin black line denotes the current density trace 100 μm from the bottom of the well, plotted in (E) as current density vs distance from the anode. (F) Computational modeling showing fluid flow streamlines originating from a rotating stir bar in the center of the device. (G) Cross section of the 3D model showing a side-view of a single sub-well. Arrows show the direction of fluid flow. (H) Shear stress at the bottom of the device, within the sub-wells, average of 5 s of modeling.

Article Snippet: 3D printed parts for the bioreactor were designed using Fusion 360 (Autodesk Inc., San Francisco) and part files are available upon request.

Techniques: Labeling, Shear

Journal: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Article Title: Novel, low-cost bioreactor for in vitro electrical stimulation of cardiac cells

doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1531731

Figure Lengend Snippet: Electrical characterization. (A) Equivalent circuit of the bioreactor’s electrode-electrolyte system modeled as a simplified Randles circuit. (B) Estimated capacitance of the system calculated from current measurements at different applied potentials. (C) Estimates of the resistance calculated from current measurements at different applied potentials. (D) Example plot of measured current plotted against the modeled current of a single 100 ms pulse. (E) Example plot showing the injected and recovered charges from a 10 ms pulse. Filled sections show the areas integrated to calculate charge. (F) Plot of charge injected and recovered from 10 ms square pulses at various potentials, showing measured data and predictions made from mathematical modeling using estimated parameters. All error bars denote S.D., for n ≥ 3.

Article Snippet: 3D printed parts for the bioreactor were designed using Fusion 360 (Autodesk Inc., San Francisco) and part files are available upon request.

Techniques: Injection