Abstract
Most cells can sense and actively respond to mechanical stimuli. Yet the exact processes that convert mechanical signals into a cascade of biochemical signals that affect the phenotype of the cell (a process called cellular mechanotransduction) remain elusive. However, such active response promises a large potential in stem cells for future work in therapeutics, tissue engineering, and synthetic bioengineering. Stem cells are highly responsive undifferentiated cells in the biological environment that are able to adapt and differentiate into an appropriate cell type based on the microenvironment within which they reside. Mechanotransduction, in combination with other experimental techniques, may provide new insights into the operations that occur at the cellular level. Understanding cellular mechanotransduction can also prove useful in understanding the overall effect on biological systems resulting from a change in just a few small variables. To elucidate the particular roles that stem cells play in healing during the adult stages, a role for stem cells that is still poorly understood as compared to what is known about them in an embryonic environment, experimental approaches must combine both mechanical and biochemical observations.
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© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Wolf, C. ., Mofrad, M.R. (2009). Mechanotransduction and Its Role in Stem Cell Biology. In: Baharvand, H. (eds) Trends in Stem Cell Biology and Technology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-905-5_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-905-5_20
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