Development of Piezo Micromanipulator for cell Micromanipulation

• Published in: Journal of Mammalian Ova Research Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 7 - 12
• Main Authors: KUDOH, Ken-ichi, GOTOH, Tsutomu, SATO, Kahei, YAMAGATA, Yutaka, FURUTANI, Katsushi, HIGUCHI, Toshiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society of Mammalian Ova Research 1990
• ISSN: 0289-5439; 1884-6505
• DOI: 10.14893/jmor1984.7.7

Positioning mechanisms with the resolution of micro-meter order are required for precise cell manipulation in biotechnology. Conventional hydraulic manipulators and electromagnetic ones have following two problems:(1) The performance of manipulation depends on operator's skill.(2) It is difficult to insert a capillary into elastic membrane of a cell, and the cell is sometimes destroyed. A new micro-manipulator and micro-injector for cell manipulation are introduced in this paper. These are driven by the precise positioning mechanism utilizing rapid deformations of piezoelectric elements, which have high positioning resolution. This micro-manipulator can insert a capillary into elastic membrane of a cell smoothly and seldom damage membrane, because this mechanisms uses impacts caused by rapid deformations of piezoelectric elements. This micro-injector can inject less volume per pulse than the conventional ones. Therefore these mechanisms solve previous problems. They are very simple, compact and suitable for cell manipulation and its automation.