Living organisms sense their physical environment through cellular mechanotransduction, which converts mechanical forces into electrical and biochemical signals. In turn, signal transduction serves a wide variety of functions, from basic cellular processes as diverse as proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis up to some of the most sophisticated senses, including touch and hear...

Under physiological conditions, supramolecular biological structures undergo nanoscale mechanical vibrations. Since proteins, which form building units of these structures, are usually highly electrically polar, mechanical oscillations will be accompanied by oscillating electric field. However, molecular modeling methods are not yet able to perform all-atom mechanical simulation of larger struc...

Microneurographic recordings were obtained in the peroneal nerve from 20 mechano-insensitive units (CMi) and six mechano-heat responsive C units (CMH) in healthy human subjects. Their innervation territories in the skin of the leg or foot were assessed by transcutaneous electrical stimulation with a pointed probe at intensities of 10 to 100 mA (0.2 ms) and, when applicable, by mechanical von Fr...