Fig. 1.

System for application of micromotions. The stage supporting the six-well plate is fixed on top of the linear piezo positioning system. The lid of the system holds the titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) cylinders mounted on slight bearings and resting on the samples. There are three experimental groups: osteoblasts seeded on collagen scaffolds (unloaded control); Ti6Al4V cylinders resting on collagen scaffolds with osteoblasts under static loading conditions (loaded control); and the six-well plate containing collagen scaffolds with osteoblasts, which is moved by the linear positioning system relative to static Ti6Al4V cylinders (micromotions, 25 µm to 100 µm).