Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Oscar J. Pundel, Liisa M. Blowes, John T. Connelly
Summary: Adhesive cues from the extracellular matrix (ECM) transmit mechanical forces through the cytoskeleton to specify the size and shape of the nucleus. This study finds that limited adhesion promotes nucleolar fusion, reduces nuclear volume, and condenses heterochromatin. Nucleolar remodeling impacts ribogenesis and protein synthesis, and is associated with specific transcriptional changes in ribogenesis genes.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Paolo Caravaggi, Elisa Assirelli, Andrea Ensini, Maurizio Ortolani, Erminia Mariani, Alberto Leardini, Simona Neri, Claudio Belvedere
Summary: This study aims to investigate the impact of cyclic joint loading on cartilage metabolism, identify mechanisms for preventing or slowing down OA progression, and provide preliminary data on its application. The proposed protocol integrates biomechanical data, medical imaging, and molecular information to analyze human OA knee cartilage explants with different degrees of degeneration. The comprehensive analysis is expected to provide new insights on the beneficial effects of physiological loading and contribute to the design of non-pharmacological treatments for limiting OA progression.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
L. Papadakis, E. Karatsis, K. Michalakis, A. Tsouknidas
Summary: This article discusses how cells respond to their mechanical environment and the application of numerical modeling in studying cellular mechanotransduction. The study finds that the consideration of continuum mechanics is a limitation in current models, and that fluid-structure interaction analysis provides a more realistic framework for understanding cellular biomechanics. The results show that FSI analysis stimulates the cell nucleus more effectively and captures more realistic intracellular loading patterns compared to FE modeling.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Joseph Sutlive, Haning Xiu, Yunfeng Chen, Kun Gou, Fengzhu Xiong, Ming Guo, Zi Chen
Summary: Understanding the mechanical properties, generation and transmission of forces in cells and tissues, and the tools and methods for measuring and predicting these forces, is essential for comprehending the regulation and control of generated forces during morphogenesis.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michael N. Young, Michael J. Sindoni, Amanda H. Lewis, Stefan Zauscher, Joerg Grandl
Summary: This study combines atomic force microscopy with patch-clamp electrophysiology to determine the physical limits of cells as sensors of mechanical energy. The researchers find that cells can function as proportional or nonlinear transducers of mechanical energy and detect very small mechanical energies with high resolution. They also discover that cells can transduce forces either nearly instantaneously or with a substantial time delay. The study provides insights into the capabilities and limits of cellular mechanosensing and the molecular mechanisms involved.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
M. Yousuf Salmasi, Sumesh Sasidharan, Jennifer Frattolin, Lowell Edgar, Ulrich Stock, Thanos Athanasiou, James Moore
Summary: This study characterizes the material properties of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysmal tissue and finds that the outer curve of the aorta is more prone to dissection propagation, while the inner curve is more prone to rupture. These findings have important implications for understanding the disease characteristics of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms and the pathogenesis of aortic dissection.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CARDIO-THORACIC SURGERY
(2022)
Review
Hematology
Oluwamayokun Oshinowo, Sally S. Azer, Jessica Lin, Wilbur A. Lam
Summary: Mechanotransduction is the ability of cells, including platelets, to sense and respond to their mechanical microenvironment. Dysregulation of platelet mechanotransduction can lead to bleeding and thrombosis. Understanding platelet mechanotransduction is crucial for better understanding and treatment of clotting and bleeding disorders.
JOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Amy EM. Beedle, Pere Roca-Cusachs
Summary: The cellular microenvironment is heterogeneous and dynamic. Mechanical force is an important input that activates signaling and regulates cell behavior through mechanotransduction. However, the reversibility of mechanical signaling is not well understood.
CURRENT OPINION IN CELL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jingyang Zheng, Thomas Wyse Jackson, Lisa A. Fortier, Lawrence J. Bonassar, Michelle L. Delco, Itai Cohen
Summary: Cellular response to stimulation plays a crucial role in tissue processes, and understanding how cells coordinate their response is essential. Researchers have developed a tool called STRAINS that combines fluorescent micrographs, cell tracking, and machine learning to measure the spatiotemporal distribution of cell behaviors in tissue. They used STRAINS to analyze the mechanotransduction response of chondrocytes in cartilage after mechanical injury, revealing distinct biochemical pathways and spatial patterns of cellular response.
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Apratim Bajpai, Rui Li, Weiqiang Chen
Summary: Aging is a chronic and complex process that results in degenerative physical and biological changes in living organisms, affecting the mechanobiological features of cells. These mechanobiological changes can lead to dysfunctions and diseases in various organ systems. Understanding the mechanobiological effects of aging is important in developing strategies to halt and reverse the aging process.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Nadia Chandra Sekar, Sergio Aguilera Suarez, Ngan Nguyen, Austin Lai, Peter Thurgood, Ying Zhou, Chanly Chheang, Scott Needham, Elena Pirogova, Karlheinz Peter, Khashayar Khoshmanesh, Sara Baratchi
Summary: Endothelial cells, which line blood vessels, are affected by biophysical cues and play an important role in vascular health and disease. This study investigated the impact of vessel stiffness on endothelial cells and found that cells cultured on softer substrates showed different cellular alignment and morphology compared to cells on stiffer substrates.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Sergio Aguilera Suarez, Nadia Chandra Sekar, Ngan Nguyen, Austin Lai, Peter Thurgood, Ying Zhou, Scott Needham, Elena Pirogova, Khashayar Khoshmanesh, Sara Baratchi
Summary: The study introduces a motorized cam-driven system for cyclic stretch of aortic endothelial cells, which allows for generating customized spatiotemporal stretch profiles. Experiments demonstrate significant changes in cytoskeletal structure and morphology of cells following exposure to cyclic stretch.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Qiusheng Shi, Lisha Zheng, Jing Na, Xinyang Li, Zhijie Yang, Xinyuan Chen, Yaxin Song, Chiyu Li, Lulin Zhou, Yubo Fan
Summary: This study finds that appropriate flow shear stress promotes the proliferation of periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. Flow shear stress remodels the cytoskeleton and focal adhesion of PDL cells and activates the p38-AMOT-YAP signaling pathway to regulate cell proliferation and nuclear translocation.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Huize Li, Lok Wai Cola Ho, Leo Kit Cheung Lee, Shaorui Liu, Cecilia Ka Wing Chan, Xiao Yu Tian, Chung Hang Jonathan Choi
Summary: This study demonstrates the use of extracellular mechanical stimuli to enhance the delivery of DNA nanostructures to the nucleus. Gentle compression of mammalian cells with polythymidine-rich nucleic acids increases nuclear accumulation without causing severe endosomal entrapment or membrane damage. This method shows potential for applications in intranuclear gene therapies.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
J. Zwirner, B. Ondruschka, M. Scholze, A. Thambyah, J. Workman, N. Hammer, J. A. Niestrawska
Summary: The human dura mater, which plays a role in mitigating brain tissue response under dynamic loading conditions, is often overlooked in computational and physical human head models due to a lack of load-deformation data. This study aimed to investigate the strain rate-dependent mechanical properties of the dura mater at different velocities and found that increasing the load application velocity increases stiffness and decreases tensile strength as well as straining potential. Therefore, the elastic modulus of the human dura mater should be adjusted in computational head impact simulations according to the respective velocities.
JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Rosaria Del Toro, Maria Laura De Bellis, Marcello Vasta, Andrea Bacigalupo
Summary: This article presents a multifield asymptotic homogenization scheme for analyzing Bloch wave propagation in non-standard thermoelastic periodic materials. The proposed method derives microscale field equations, solves recursive differential problems within the unit cell, establishes a down-scaling relation, and obtains average field equations. The effectiveness of this approach is validated by comparing dispersion curves with those from the Floquet-Bloch theory.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Yue Bao, Zhengcheng Yao, Yue Zhang, Xueman Hu, Xiandong Liu, Yingchun Shan, Tian He
Summary: This paper proposes a novel triple-gradient phononic acoustic black hole (ABH) beam that strategically manipulates multiple gradients to enhance its performance. The study reveals that the ABH effect is not solely brought about by the thickness gradient, but also extends to the power-law gradients in density and modulus. The synergistic development of three different gradient effects leads to more pronounced and broader bandgaps in PCs.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Matthias Ryser, Jason Steffen, Bekim Berisha, Markus Bambach
Summary: This study investigates the feasibility of replacing complex experiments with multiple simpler ones to determine the anisotropic yielding behavior of sheet metal. The results show that parameter identifiability and accuracy can be achieved by combining multiple specimen geometries and orientations, enhancing the understanding of the yield behavior.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Wenjun Li, Pengfei Zhang, Siyong Yang, Shenling Cai, Kai Feng
Summary: This study presents a novel two-dimensional non-contact platform based on Near-field Acoustic Levitation (NFAL), which can realize both one-dimensional and two-dimensional transportation. Numerical and experimental results prove the feasibility and ease of this method.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Shuo Liu, Lu Che, Guodong Fang, Jun Liang
Summary: This study presents a novel lamina conjugated bond-based peridynamic (BB-PD) model that overcomes the limitations of material properties and is applicable to composite laminates with different stacking sequences. The accuracy and applicability of the model are validated through simulations of elastic deformation and progressive damage behavior, providing an explanation of the damage modes and failure mechanisms of laminated composite materials subjected to uniaxial loading.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Omar El-Khatib, S. Kumar, Wesley J. Cantwell, Andreas Schiffer
Summary: Sandwich-structured honeycombs (SSHCs) are hierarchical structures with enhanced mass-specific properties. A model capable of predicting the elastic properties of hexagonal SSHCs is presented, showing superior in-plane elastic and shear moduli compared to traditional honeycombs, while the out-of-plane shear moduli are reduced.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Zhi-Jian Li, Hong-Liang Dai, Yuan Yao, Jing-Ling Liu
Summary: This paper proposes a process-performance prediction model for estimating the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of metallic parts fabricated by powder bed fusion additive manufacturing. The effect of main process variables on the mechanical performance of printed metallic parts is analyzed and the results can serve as a guideline for improvement. The accuracy of the proposed model is validated by comparison with literature.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Saman A. Bapir, Kawa M. A. Manmi, Rostam K. Saeed, Abdolrahman Dadvand
Summary: This study numerically investigates the behavior of an ultrasonically driven gas bubble between two parallel rigid circular walls with a cylindrical micro-indentation in one wall. The primary objective is to determine the conditions that facilitate the removal of particulate contamination from the indentation using the bubble jet. The study found that the bubble jet can effectively remove contamination from the indentation for certain ranges of indentation diameter, but becomes less effective for larger indentation diameters.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
E. Polyzos, E. Vereroudakis, S. Malefaki, D. Vlassopoulos, D. Van Hemelrijck, L. Pyl
Summary: This research investigates the elastic and damage characteristics of individual composite beads used in 3D printed composites. A new analytical probabilistic progressive damage model (PPDM) is introduced to capture the elastic and damage attributes of these beads. Experimental results show strong agreement with the model in terms of elastic behavior and ultimate strength and strain.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES
(2024)
