Cellular mechanotransduction of physical force and organ response to exercise-induced mechanical stimuli

Abstract

The variable effects of mechanical stimuli induced by exercise on the human body are becoming better understood. Additionally, the indispensable effect of constant gravity on the human body to construct and maintain living organisms is known from observed muscle and bone regression induced by long-term recumbency or visits to gravity-free environments, such as space. Based on reactions of the body, cells faced with various inputs largely depend on gene expression, biochemical processes, or both. Thus, it is easy to imagine that physical input can be converted into a chemical process. The conversion process that changes physical forces (mechanical stimuli) into chemical reactions in a cell is called mechanotransduction. A growing number of studies examining mechanotransduction have led to a new phase in the understanding of exercise-induced effects on organisms.

Impact of extracellular matrix stiffness on genomic heterogeneity in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cell line

“…Previously published findings could shed some light on the different impact of ECM properties on SH-SY5Y and SK-N-BE(2) cell lines when cultured in the stiffness models, much less marked on the former than the latter. PI3K/AKT is one of the most important pathways in mechanotransduction of mechanical forces, leading to gene expression and protein synthesis [ 73 ], and increased matrix stiffness has been reported to activate the PI3K/AKT signal pathway [ 74 ]. Various signaling pathways including PTEN/PI3K/AKT and RAF/MEK/ERK have been identified which control MYCN stabilization and act as major mediators of uncontrolled tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion, apoptosis and cellular metabolism in NB [ 75 – 77 ].…”