Modal analysis of a spreading osteoblast cell in culturing

In bone cell culturing environment, mechanical vibration has been utilized to study the effects of various frequency and amplitude conditions on the cells. In this study, a spreading single cell was modeled as a simple dome to investigate the dynamic properties of a cell in the culturing environment. The finite element modal analysis was applied to evaluate the natural frequency and mode shapes of a spreading bone cell. The variance of cell shapes and mechanical properties such as Young's modulus were utilized. Simulation results show that the range of the natural frequency for a spreading cell of various sizes (135x30, 100x40, 80x50, and 67x60 μm with 10 μm height) is 9.95-211.05 Hz and cell shapes do not affect the modal analysis results. However the natural frequency is increased proportionally to the increase in Young's modulus.