Abstract—In this paper we present a new model for determining the local stiffness of an extracellular matrix (ECM) sample embedded with bio-conjugated magnetic beads under the influence of an external magnetic field. In this model, the viscoelastic deformation of such ECM samples is analyzed using the finite element method. We report results from numerical simulations using our model on two typical scenarios for studying the pre-tension in the ECM caused by beads under a magnetic field. The analytical results are in close agreement with that obtained from COMSOL. We also applied our model on an actual ECM sample embedded with bio-conjugated beads and compared our analytical results with that obtained from stretch tests done on that sample. These results are comparable to that from the stretching tests.

Index Terms—Extracellular matrix, finite element analysis, pre-tension, stiffness, viscoelasticity

D. Yue, Sahan C. B. Herath, and Peter C. Y. Chen are with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore and Biosystem and Micromechanics Interdisciplinary Research Group, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Program, Singapore (e-mail: mpechenp@nus.edu.sg).
W. Q. Guo is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
H. Asada is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and Biosystem and Micromechanics Interdisciplinary Research Group, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Program, Singapore.

Cite: Yue Du, Sahan C. B. Herath, Qing-Guo Wang, Harry Asada, and Peter C. Y. Chen, "Analysis of Stiffness in Extracellular Matrix Embedded with Bio-Conjugated Magnetic Beads in a Magnetic Field," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 2, no. 5, pp.  329-335, 2012.