Mechanical forces direct stem cell behaviour in development and regeneration

Tooth Regeneration with Stem Cell Sources

Introduction: During the last decade, advances in tissue engineering and stem cell-based tooth regeneration have provided realistic and attractive means of replacing lost or damaged teeth. The first adult stem cells isolated from dental tissues were dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). When transplanted with hydroxyl apatite/tri calcium phosphate (HA/TCP) powder, they formed a dentin-like structure...

Mechanical forces in plant growth and development.

Plant cells perceive forces that arise from the environment and from the biophysics of plant growth. These forces provide meaningful cues that can affect the development of the plant. Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana were used to examine the cytoplasmic tensile character of cells that have been implicated in the gravitropic response. Laser-trapping technology revealed that the starch-containin...

Mechanical forces during muscle development

Muscles are the major force producing tissue in the human body. While certain muscle types specialize in producing maximum forces, others are very enduring. An extreme example is the heart, which continuously beats for the entire life. Despite being specialized, all body muscles share similar contractile mini-machines called sarcomeres that are organized into regular higher order structures cal...

Stem cell mechanical behaviour modelling: substrate’s curvature influence during adhesion

Recent experiments hint that adherent cells are sensitive to their substrate curvature. It is already well known that cells behaviour can be regulated by the mechanical properties of their environment. However, no mechanisms have been established regarding the influence of cell-scale curvature of the substrate. Using a numerical cell model, based on tensegrity structures theory and the non-smoo...

Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells and Their Application in Cell-Based Tissue Regeneration