Abstract
Background and objectives: Electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) is widely used to investigate the mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of physical activity in in vitro studies. The aim of our study was to develop a cheap, stable EPS system and protocol capable of causing C2C12 mouse myoblasts cells to contract. Method: The EPS system consists of a control unit, a WEP PS305D power supply unit, and a FY6800 signal generator. The control unit is a circuit board developed by us that connects the power supply unit with the signal generator. The control unit consists of two pairs of electrodes that can be connected to a six-well plate equipped with a manually mounted platinum wire. The stability of the system was evaluated using a Hantek 6022BE oscilloscope to measure ninety minutes of electrical pulse stimulation of C2C12 mouse myotubes. A protocol was established for cell culture and EPS parameters. The contraction of the myotubes was confirmed under a Leica DMi1 inverted microscope. Results: Our custom system is very accurate and has a wide range of EPS parameter adjustment options. The results show that the system is stable over ninety minutes of EPS with variable parameters. The EPS protocol was also optimized. Discussion: To date, only a few custom EPS systems have been described. Our system is relatively cheap, easy to build, and stable, and so could serve as an alternative to commercially available systems.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, G.N., A.R. and A.C.; methodology, G.N. and A.R.; investigation, G.N. and A.R.; writing—original draft preparation, G.N.; writing—review and editing, A.C.; supervision. A.C.; project administration, A.C.; funding acquisition, A.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
The reseach was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant number 2020/37/B/NZ9/00256.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Data sharing is not applicable to this article.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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