This volume explores how cells and tissues sense and respond to mechanical forces, revealing their roles in health and disease, and presenting the latest models and therapeutic strategies in the field of mechanobiology.
All living organisms are subject to mechanical forces, such as tension, compression, shear, torsion, bending and friction. Organisms and their components must sense and respond to these forces. Cells, cellular organelles, tissues and organs detect the physical properties of their internal and external environments, including spatial topography, substrate rigidity, compactness and porosity. After sensing these mechanical cues, they transmit the information to their structural and molecular components. These components then adjust the cell's structure, molecular composition, gene expression, signalling pathways, spatial arrangement, cell cycle, longevity, and other functions.
The book looks at new developments in our understanding of these processes in various cells, describes the roles of mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in disease, and presents novel mechanosensation models and therapeutic approaches.
Part I. Mechanoperception Molecules and Organelles, Mechanosensing
Models and Mechanics Quantification Tools.
Chapter
1. Mechanosensitive
TMEM63 Ion Channels: Structure, Gating Mechanism, and Emerging Physiological
and Pathological Roles.
Chapter
2. How Touch Triggers Mechanotransduction in
Cutaneous Mechanoreceptors.
Chapter
3. Piezo1 in Immune Cells: From Force to
Function.
Chapter
4. Podosomes and Mechanical Force.
Chapter
5. Models of
Cellular Mechanosensation.
Chapter
6. StrainMapperJ: An Easy-to-Use Digital
Image Correlation Toolkit for Exploring and Quantifying the Mechanics of
Deforming Tissues.- Part II. Mechanical Effects on Cellular, Organellar, and
Molecular Systems.
Chapter
7. Network-Associated Mechanotransduction in
Health and Disease.
Chapter
8. Influence of Magneto-Mechanical Stress on
Cellular Membranes, Ion Channel Activity, and Gene Expression Dynamics.-
Chapter
9. Setting up to Divide Nuclear Mechanotransduction in the
Regulation of Mitosis.
Chapter
10. Forceful Beginnings: Mechanotransduction
and Mechanosensation at the Meiotic Cell Nucleus During Gamete Development.-
Chapter
11. Modulation of the Mechanosensory Matrisome by Serotonergic
Signaling.- Part III. Tissue- and Organ-Specific Mechanotransduction in
Health and Disease.
Chapter
12. Ciliary-Mediated Mechanotransduction in
Skeletal Development and Diseases.
Chapter
13. Integrating Mechanical
Loading, Mechanotransduction and Biological Responses in Musculoskeletal
Tissues Across the Lifespan: Regulation Influenced by Cells, Extracellular
Matrix and Sex.
Chapter
14. Epigenetic Regulation of RUNX2 in Bone
Mechanobiology.
Chapter
15. Mechanobiology of Myelin Generation/Regeneration
in Health and Disease.
Chapter
16. Application of Bioactive Natural
Compounds to Promote Cell Proliferation and Migration in the Wound Healing
Process.
Malgorzata Kloc: Prior to completing her postdoctoral training in Canada, Dr. Kloc was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Warsaw, Poland. She also served as a Research Associate in the Department of Biology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. While completing her postdoctoral training, Dr. Kloc earned the AHFMR Research Award from the University of Calgary and the MRC Biotechnology Training Award from Dalhousie University. She joined the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as a Research Scientist in the Department of Molecular Genetics in 1987, and became an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology there in 2006. Dr. Kloc joined the Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2008. Currently, Dr. Kloc is the Weill Cornell Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at The Houston Methodist Hospital.
Jarek Wosik: After completing his PhD at the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poland in 1986, he worked as a Research Scientist at the Research and Development Center for Semiconductors, the Institute of Electron Technology, the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, and at the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Science. In 1987, he moved to Houston and worked at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, and Texas Heart Institute. In 2003, he became a Research Professor at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston. He is a member of the American Physical Society, Material Research Society, and International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Since 2001, he has also been a Director of High Frequency Bioengineering Laboratory. His scientific interests include designing magnetic nanoconstructs for the imaging and hyperthermia of tumor cells and neovasculature, water extraction from lunar polar ice by microwave heating, development of noninvasive sensors of metabolic activity, and electromagnetic time-reversal techniques for targeted radiofrequency cancer therapy. He also closely collaborates with Dr. M. Kloc on the magnetic field-induced cytoskeleton alteration to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.
