cytoskeleton
23 studies on cytoskeleton — reviewed, translated, woven together.
Articles
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Research
- 2020
Feeling Things Out: Bidirectional Signaling of the Cell–ECM Interface, Implications in the Mechanobiology of Cell Spreading, Migration, Proliferation, and Differentiation
Andrew E Miller, Ping Hu, Thomas H BarkerThis narrative review describes how cells and their surrounding environment, the extracellular matrix (ECM), constantly communicate with each other. This communication involves physical cues from the ECM being translate…
- 2019
Modelling Cell Origami via a Tensegrity Model of the Cytoskeleton in Adherent Cells
Lili Wang, Weiyi ChenResearchers created a computer model to better understand "cell origami," a technique where the natural pulling forces of cells are used to fold tiny structures. This model represents the cell's internal framework, or c…
- 2017
Mechanical Properties of the Cytoskeleton and Cells
A F Pegoraro, P Janmey, D A WeitzIn this review article, the authors describe the cytoskeleton, which is the cell's main mechanical structure. It is a complex and dynamic network of biopolymers that includes microtubules, actin, and intermediate filame…
- 2016
Coordinated integrin activation by actin-dependent force during T-cell migration
P Nordenfelt, H L Elliott, T A SpringerResearchers investigated how immune cells, specifically T-cells, generate the force needed to move. Using fluorescent tension sensors, they visualized the tension within integrins, which are proteins that help cells gri…
- 2014
The Medium of Haptic Perception: A Tensegrity Hypothesis
Michael T Turvey, Sérgio T FonsecaIn this theoretical paper, the authors propose a new hypothesis for how our sense of touch, or haptic perception, works. Unlike other senses that have a clear medium (like air for sound), the haptic system lacks one. Th…
- 2013
Purine receptor mediated actin cytoskeleton remodeling of human fibroblasts
Nanna Goldman, Devin Chandler-Militello, Helene Langevin, Maiken Nedergaard, Takahiro TakanoThis laboratory study investigated how certain molecules, called purines, affect human fibroblast cells. Previous research has shown that acupuncture can trigger the release of purines like ATP. The researchers exposed…
- 2013
Cellular Control of Connective Tissue Matrix Tension
H M Langevin, M Nedergaard, A HoweThis review article explores how fibroblasts, the cells within connective tissue, actively help regulate tissue tension. Traditionally, the mechanical properties of connective tissue have been attributed to its passive…
- 2009
From mechanotransduction to extracellular matrix gene expression in fibroblasts
Matthias Chiquet, Laurent Gelman, Roman Lutz, Silke MaierThis 2009 review article explores how connective tissue cells, or fibroblasts, sense and respond to mechanical forces from their environment. Cells attach to the surrounding extracellular matrix via adhesion contacts, w…
- 2009
Mechanotransduction at a distance: mechanically coupling the extracellular matrix with the nucleus
Ning Wang, Jessica D Tytell, Donald E IngberIn this narrative review, the authors explore how mechanical forces can influence the cell nucleus from a distance. Research has often focused on how external forces are converted into chemical signals at the cell's sur…
- 2008
Can cancer be reversed by engineering the tumor microenvironment?
Donald E IngberIn this perspective article, the author proposes a different way of looking at cancer. Instead of focusing solely on genetic mutations, he argues that the physical environment around a tumor, particularly the extracellu…
- 2008
Tensegrity-Based Mechanosensing from Macro to Micro
Donald E IngberThis review article, based on a lecture, explores how cells convert mechanical signals into biochemical responses. The author proposes that the body uses "tensegrity" (tensional integrity) principles, where interconnect…
- 2008
Tensegrity and Mechanotransduction
D E IngberThis article summarizes a lecture on how mechanical forces influence biological processes at the cellular level. The author describes mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert physical forces into biochemi…
- 2007
Extracellular matrix, mechanotransduction and structural hierarchies in heart tissue engineering
Kevin K Parker, Donald E IngberThis narrative review explores the challenges of engineering artificial heart tissue. The heart functions across vast scales of time and space, from tiny ion channels to the whole organ's pumping action. The authors sug…
- 2006
Viscoelastic Retraction of Single Living Stress Fibers and Its Impact on Cell Shape, Cytoskeletal Organization, and Extracellular Matrix Mechanics
Sanjay Kumar, Iva Z Maxwell, Alexander Heisterkamp, Thomas R Polte, Tanmay P Lele, Matthew Salanga, Eric Mazur, Donald…Cells maintain their shape and interact with their surroundings using internal tension cables called stress fibers. Using a microscopic laser to cut individual stress fibers inside living cells, researchers studied how…
- 2006
Subcutaneous Tissue Fibroblast Cytoskeletal Remodeling Induced by Acupuncture: Evidence for a Mechanotransduction-Based Mechanism
Helene M Langevin, Nicole A Bouffard, Gary J Badger, David L Churchill, Alan K HoweIn this mouse tissue study, researchers investigated how rotating an acupuncture needle affects fibroblasts in the connective tissue under the skin. They found that rotation caused the fibroblasts to actively change sha…
- 2006
Mechanisms of Mechanotransduction
A Wayne Orr, Brian P Helmke, Brett R Blackman, Martin A SchwartzThis review describes mechanotransduction, the process by which cells sense and respond to physical forces. The researchers explain that nearly all living organisms, from bacteria to humans, are sensitive to mechanical…
- 2005
Cell tension, matrix mechanics, and cancer development
Sui Huang, Donald E IngberDoctors can often diagnose cancer by feeling for tissue stiffness, and this study explores how this mechanical property contributes to cancer development. The researchers suggest that the stiff extracellular matrix in t…
- 2003
Mechanobiology and diseases of mechanotransduction
Donald E IngberThis 2003 article argues that medicine often overlooks the physical and mechanical aspects of disease, focusing instead on genetics. The author reviews how physical forces and the extracellular matrix are vital for norm…
- 2003
Tensegrity I. Cell structure and hierarchical systems biology
Donald E IngberThis review article revisits the concept of tensegrity, a structural model for living cells first described a decade prior. The tensegrity model helps explain how cells control their shape, movement, and internal mechan…
- 1999
Tensegrity and mechanoregulation: from skeleton to cytoskeleton
Christopher S Chen, Donald E IngberThis review article explores how mechanical forces are transmitted from the whole body down to individual cells. The authors propose that a design principle called "tensegrity," which uses continuous tension and local c…
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