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Rheology and Mechanics of the Cytoskeleton

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Complex Fluids in Biological Systems

Part of the book series: Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering ((BIOMEDICAL))

Abstract

The cytoskeleton is a series of intertwined proteins with the primary function of providing the cell with structure and shape. The distinctive rheology and mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton are detrimental for cell’s ability to perform its different and often critical functions in health and disease. From the mechanics point of view, the cytoskeleton is a dynamic and constantly changing structure which can be considered as a randomly crosslinked semiflexible polymer network. This chapter briefly reviews salient features of the cytoskeletal biopolymer network and discusses various computational and numerical methods that have been proposed for investigating its rheology and mechanical properties. In particular, an overview of the physical and mechanical behavior of individual constituents of the three-dimensional cytoskeletal network, i.e., F-actin, microtubules, intermediate filaments, binding proteins, and cross-link filaments, is first given. Then recent advancements on characterizing the response of cells to external stimuli are discussed. For this purpose, a summary of common experimental and computational studies on cytoskeletal rheology and mechanics are presented and critically compared against each other.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Hamed Hatami-Marbini

  2. Molecular Cell Biomechanics Laboratory, Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Mohammad R. K. Mofrad

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  1. Hamed Hatami-Marbini
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  2. Mohammad R. K. Mofrad
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Correspondence to Hamed Hatami-Marbini .

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  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Saverio E. Spagnolie

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Hatami-Marbini, H., Mofrad, M.R.K. (2015). Rheology and Mechanics of the Cytoskeleton. In: Spagnolie, S. (eds) Complex Fluids in Biological Systems. Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2065-5_5

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