Highly Stretchable Kirigami Structure with Integrated Led Chips and Electrodes for Optogenetic Experiments on Perfused Hearts

摘要

This paper proposes a highly stretchable kirigami structure based on 10-µm-thin polyimide membranes comprising light-emitting diode chips and microelectrodes for optophysiological experiments in perfused hearts. The experimental device is intended for basic cardiological research for the treatment of heart diseases such as ventricular arrhythmias, which are the principal cause of sudden death. In contrast to the currently applied electrical stimulation using implantable defibrillation systems, the optogenetic treatment is expected to reduce the severe side effects including damage to cardiac tissue and intense traumatic pain exerted by the high electric shocks. In addition, the kirigami-based optical stimulation device also achieves the intimate integration to the soft biological tissue due to its high stretchability. This is expected to improve the recording capability of electrical signals from the tissue surface.