Application of mechanical vibrations is anabolic to bone tissue, not only by guiding mature bone cells to increased formation, but also by increasing the osteogenic commitment of progenitor cells. However, the sensitivity and adaptive response of bone marrow stem cells to this loading regimen has not yet been identified. In this study, we subjected mouse bone marrow stem cell line D1-ORL-UVA to daily mechanical vibrations (0.15 g, 90 Hz, 15 min/day) for 7 days, both during quiescence and osteogenic commitment, to identify corresponding ultrastructural adaptations on cellular and molecular levels. During quiescence, mechanical vibrations significantly increased total actin content and actin fiber thickness, as measured by phalloidin staining and fluorescent microscopy. Cellular height also increased, as measured by atomic force microscopy, along with the expression of focal adhesion kinase (PTK2) mRNA levels. During osteogenesis, mechanical vibrations increased the total actin content, actin fiber thickness, and cytoplasmic membrane roughness, with significant increase in Runx2 mRNA levels. These results show that bone marrow stem cells demonstrate similar cytoskeletal adaptations to low-magnitude high-frequency mechanical loads both during quiescence and osteogenesis, potentially becoming more sensitive to additional loads by increased structural stiffness.

ObjectiveThe advent of ligand-based receptor capture methodologies, allows the identification of unknown receptor candidates for orphan extracellular ligands. However, further target validation can be tedious, laborious and time-consuming. Here, we present a methodology that provides a fast and cost-efficient alternative for candidate target verification on living cells.ResultsIn the described methodology a ligand of interest (e.g. transferrin, epidermal growth factor or insulin) was conjugated to a linker (TriCEPS) that carries a biotin. To confirm ligand/receptor interactions, the ligand–TriCEPS conjugates were first added onto living cells and cells were subsequently labeled with a streptavidin-fluorophore and analyzed by flow cytometry (thus referred as Flow-TriCEPS). Flow-TriCEPS was also used to validate identified receptor candidates when combined with a siRNA knock down approach (i.e. reduction of expression levels). This approach is versatile as it can be applied for different classes of ligands (proteins, peptides, antibodies) and different cell lines. Moreover, the method is time-efficient since it takes advantage of the large variety of commercially available (and certified) siRNAs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3974-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.