Finite Element Analysis of Osteocytes Mechanosensitivity Under Simulated Microgravity

A NanoFE simulation-based surrogate machine learning model to predict mechanical functionality of protein networks from live confocal imaging

“…Previous studies employing simplified geometries, such as tensegrity models allowed theoretical studies of cellular mechanism such as cell reorientation [12] , [16] . More detailed FE models have been developed to investigate the mechanical role of cytoskeletal components [14] and cell mechano-sensitivity [64] . However, the generic and strongly simplified geometrical representation of the cells, e.g ellipsoid [65] , [66] (even when cytoskeleton filament directions were considered), potentially prevents comprehensive studies of the influence of structural features on the mechanical behavior of cytoskeletal protein networks.…”

“…However, we have previously shown that our quantitative imaging method is capable of resolving the micro-structure of FtsZ networks [28] . Second, the commonly used linear elastic material model in FE simulations of cytoskeletons [14] , [15] , [64] , [90] might not completely capture the mechanical behavior of the network. However, to our knowledge, to date no constitutive law has been developed for describing mechanical behavior of FtsZ.…”

A NanoFE Simulation-based Surrogate Machine Learning Model to Predict Mechanical Functionality of Protein Networks from Live Confocal Imaging

“…However, we have previously shown that our quantitative imaging method is capable of resolving the micro-structure of FtsZ networks [25]. Second, the commonly used linear elastic material model in FE simulations of cytoskeletons [14,15,66,79] might not completely capture the mechanical behavior of the network. However, to our knowledge, to date no constitutive law has been developed for describing mechanical behavior of the FtsZ network.…”

“…as cell reorientation [12,16]. More detailed FE models have been developed to investigate the mechanical role of cytoskeletal components [14] and cell mechano-sensitivity [66]. However, the generic and strongly simplified geometrical representation of the cells, e.g ellipsoid [67,68] (even when cytoskeleton filament directions were considered), potentially prevents comprehensive studies of the influence of structural features in the mechanical behavior of cytoskeletal protein networks.…”

“…However, to our knowledge, to date no constitutive law has been developed for describing mechanical behavior of the FtsZ network. Although more complicated constitutive laws for the mechanical behavior of single actin filaments have been proposed [80][81][82], linear elasticity is the prevailing choice for cytoskeletal networks in wholecell models [14,15,66,79]. Moreover, our focus was not necessarily to exactly match the mechanical behaviour, but on the influences of structural features.…”