Fig. 1

Design of the in vitro stimulator system. (A) Conceptual diagram of the instrument composed of a stimulation lid with electrodes for a multiwell plate, and a stimulation controller. (B) In each well two electrodes are submerged into culture medium. Electrically stimulation well can be modelled as ohmic resistance R, while electrodes can be represented by capacitive C and Faradic F elements. (C) Conceptual diagram of the stimulation controller, which is designed modularly containing microcontroller and boards to define the pulse shape and individual amplifiers for stimulation pulses in constant current mode. Inset shows bipolar pulse shapes, where electric field and pulse timings can be flexibly defined for each well by the microcontroller firmware. (D) Photograph of the in vitro stimulator system composed of controller and stimulation lid with submergible Ti electrodes for usage in the multiwell plate