TY - CHAP
T1 - Cellular tensegrity models and cell-substrate interactions
AU - Stamenović, Dimitrije
AU - Wang, Ning
AU - Ingber, Donald E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all of the students, fellows, and technicians in our laboratories who contributed to the development and testing of the tensegrity model, as well as related studies on cell–substrate interactions. This work was supported by grants from NIH and NASA.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - This chapter discusses how living cells use a tensegrity mechanism to sense, respond, and adapt to changes in their mechanical environment, including stresses applied at the cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interface. Mechanotransduction, the cellular response to mechanical stress, is governed by the cytoskeleton (CSK), a molecular network composed of different types of biopolymers that mechanically stabilizes the cell and actively generates contractile forces. Mechanical distortion of cell shape can impact many cell biological behaviors, including motility, contractility, growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Mechanical distortion of cells produces these changes in cell function by inducing restructuring of the CSK and thereby impacting cellular biochemistry and gene expression through largely unknown mechanisms. Tensegrity architecture describes a class of discrete network structures that maintain their structural integrity because of prestress in their cable-like structural members. A unique property of tensegrity structures is that a mechanical stress may be transferred over long distances within the tensionally linked structural network, a phenomenon referred to as "action at a distance.".
AB - This chapter discusses how living cells use a tensegrity mechanism to sense, respond, and adapt to changes in their mechanical environment, including stresses applied at the cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interface. Mechanotransduction, the cellular response to mechanical stress, is governed by the cytoskeleton (CSK), a molecular network composed of different types of biopolymers that mechanically stabilizes the cell and actively generates contractile forces. Mechanical distortion of cell shape can impact many cell biological behaviors, including motility, contractility, growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Mechanical distortion of cells produces these changes in cell function by inducing restructuring of the CSK and thereby impacting cellular biochemistry and gene expression through largely unknown mechanisms. Tensegrity architecture describes a class of discrete network structures that maintain their structural integrity because of prestress in their cable-like structural members. A unique property of tensegrity structures is that a mechanical stress may be transferred over long distances within the tensionally linked structural network, a phenomenon referred to as "action at a distance.".
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33846281120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33846281120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/B978-012369392-1/50005-X
DO - 10.1016/B978-012369392-1/50005-X
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:33846281120
SN - 9780123693921
SP - 81
EP - 101
BT - Principles of Cellular Engineering
PB - Elsevier Inc.
ER -