Stem cells and physical energies: can we really drive stem cell fate?

Abstract

Adult stem cells are undifferentiated elements able to self-renew or differentiate to maintain tissue integrity. Within this context, stem cells are able to divide in a symmetric fashion, feature characterising all the somatic cells, or in an asymmetric way, which leads daughter cells to different fates. It is worth highlighting that cell polarity have a critical role in regulating stem cell asymmetric division and the proper control of cell division depends on different proteins involved in cell development, differentiation and maintenance of tissue homeostasis. Moreover, the interaction between cells and the extracellular matrix are crucial in influencing cell behavior, included in terms of mechanical properties as cytoskeleton plasticity and remodelling, and membrane tension. Finally, the activation of specific transcriptional program and epigenetic modifications contributes to cell fate determination, through modulation of cellular signalling cascades. It is well known that physical and mechanical stimuli are able to influence biological systems, and in this context, the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have already shown a considerable role, even though there is a lack of knowledge and much remains to be done around this topic. In this review, we summarize the historical background of EMFs applications and the main molecular mechanism involved in cellular remodelling, with particular attention to cytoskeleton elasticity and cell polarity, required for driving stem cell behavior.

The Role of Nutrition and Forest-Bathing in the Physical Rehabilitation of Physically Inactive Patients: From the Molecular Aspects to New Nature-Inspired Techniques

“…Interacting with the extracellular matrix, adult stem cells are able to influence some cytoskeleton mechanical properties, such as remodeling and plasticity, that are crucial in wound healing. Moreover, physical as well as mechanical stimuli are known to modulate the fate of stem cells in their own niche and are able to boost the intrinsic ability the body has to self-heal, without requiring stem cell transplantation or any other more invasive treatments [75]. From a biomolecular perspective, the secretion of growth factors from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) [76][77][78][79] following artificial stimuli may regulate the inflammatory environment by promoting the expression of M2 macrophages and inhibiting the expression of M1 macrophages [80], which results in an enhanced wound healing effect [81].…”

Cell Responsiveness to Physical Energies: Paving the Way to Decipher a Morphogenetic Code

“…Comprehensive review analyses, focusing on the rescue of damaged tissues by the aid of physical energies, also including the use of shock waves and photobiomodulation, can be found in [ 77 , 78 , 79 ].…”

“…The local and non-local transmission of oscillations and traveling waves, the assembly of stable and migrating intracellular domains, the homeostatic control in bioelectric circuitries, and the role of electromagnetic fields in the control of gene expression and cell fate [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ] are now posing the needs for the development of ad hoc computational analyses to decipher how these physical forces may contribute to generating and spreading information, up to the development of morphogenetic outcomes, involving tissue, organ, and large-scale anatomy. These issues are now the subject of intensive experimental activities and are forming the platform for novel hypotheses, seeing our cells in terms of informational stations using mechanical and electromagnetic energy as a form of extremely fast and integrated connectedness to tell the biochemical machinery how to work [ 65 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. This is exactly what computer software does, acting as a collection of data or computer instructions to define the working dynamics of the computer itself.…”

Natural Compounds and PCL Nanofibers: A Novel Tool to Counteract Stem Cell Senescence

“…These properties can be significantly reduced after UV exposure and oxidative-stressrelated dysfunctions [5]. Stem cells are able to undergo self-renewal or commit toward a specific differentiated phenotype upon physical or chemical stimuli [6][7][8][9][10], exhibiting different plasticity and differentiation potential, according to their tissue source [6,[10][11][12][13]. Skin comprises several stem cell types, showing different roles, properties, and differentiation capabilities [14,15].…”