Ilaria Venturino1,2,Vito Vurro1,Matteo Moschetta1,Silvio Bonfadini1,Valentina Sesti1,2,Chiara Bertarelli1,2,Luigino Criante1,Guglielmo Lanzani1,2
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia1,Politecnico di Milano2
Ilaria Venturino1,2,Vito Vurro1,Matteo Moschetta1,Silvio Bonfadini1,Valentina Sesti1,2,Chiara Bertarelli1,2,Luigino Criante1,Guglielmo Lanzani1,2
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia1,Politecnico di Milano2
Bio hybrid actuation is a novel trend in soft robotics combining soft polymeric scaffold and biological active component (i.e. flagella, bacteria). A promising class of bio hybrid actuators are those based on muscle cells.<sup>1</sup> Muscular tissues are characterized by outstanding performance (i.e high efficient energy storage, high power/weight ratio, self-repair capability)<sup>2</sup> that are very promising in actuation field especially if compared with other type of actuators. These features can be reproduced <i>in vitro </i>mimicking the native muscle structure and organization and leading to the already mentioned bio hybrid actuators. Typically, these devices are controlled by an electrical pulses, applied by electrodes to the tissue.<br/>An interesting alternative to the electrical stimulation can be given by the use of light. Photostimulation can be a competitive alternative to the classic one due to its low damaging level and high spatial and temporal resolution<sup>3</sup>. Since muscle cells are not sensible to light several strategies have been found (i.e. optogenetics, IR stimulation, photo sensible materials).<sup>4,5</sup><br/>In this work we present the skeletal muscle cells photopacing mediate by a photochromic molecules, named Ziapin2.<sup>6</sup> This molecule is an azobenzene compound that is able to isomerize due to light interaction. This approach was tested on single skeletal muscle cells and on muscle tissue realized exploiting the same cell line and a micro-patterned Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin film.<br/><br/>Bibliography<br/><sup>1</sup> S. Kim, C. Laschi, and B. Trimmer, Trends in Biotechnology 31, 287 (2013).<br/><sup>2</sup> L. Ricotti and A. Menciassi, Biomed Microdevices 14, 987 (2012).<br/><sup>3</sup> V. Vurro, I. Venturino, and G. Lanzani, Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 080502 (2022).<br/><sup>4</sup> R. Parameswaran, K. Koehler, M.Y. Rotenberg, M.J. Burke, J. Kim, K.-Y. Jeong, B. Hissa, M.D. Paul, K. Moreno, N. Sarma, T. Hayes, E. Sudzilovsky, H.-G. Park, and B. Tian, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 116, 413 (2019).<br/><sup>5</sup> S.-J. Park, M. Gazzola, K.S. Park, S. Park, V. Di Santo, E.L. Blevins, J.U. Lind, P.H. Campbell, S. Dauth, A.K. Capulli, F.S. Pasqualini, S. Ahn, A. Cho, H. Yuan, B.M. Maoz, R. Vijaykumar, J.-W. Choi, K. Deisseroth, G.V. Lauder, L. Mahadevan, and K.K. Parker, Science 353, 158 (2016).<br/><sup>6</sup> G.M. Paternò, E. Colombo, V. Vurro, F. Lodola, S. Cimò, V. Sesti, E. Molotokaite, M. Bramini, L. Ganzer, D. Fazzi, C. D’Andrea, F. Benfenati, C. Bertarelli, and G. Lanzani, Adv. Sci. 7, 1903241 (2020).