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Mechanotransduction

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Mechanical Forces: Their Effects on Cells and Tissues

Part of the book series: Biotechnology Intelligence Unit ((BIOIU))

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Abstract

One of the most intensely debated questions arising from the study of cellular responses to physical forces is how cells sense these mechanical stimuli and convert them into electrical, chemical or biochemical responses, the process known as mechanotransduction. Systems in which mechanotransduction is essential include the senses of hearing and touch as well as baroreception, the ability of the body to perceive blood pressure. In all three cases, mechanical forces move or deform specialized sensory structures such as hair cells (hearing); Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner’s corpuscles, and free nerve endings (touch); or baroreceptors. These physical stimuli lead to altered membrane potential, which in turn triggers the initiation of action potentials. In these examples it is widely accepted that the mechanosensitive elements are ion channels whose probability of being open is affected by physical deformation (reviewed by French1 and Sachs2,3). Once a physical stimulus is converted to an electrochemical signal, the transfer and amplification of the signal follows classic signal transduction pathways often utilized by agonists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, E-25-342, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Keith J. Gooch Ph.D.

  2. 6442 Amherst Avenue, 21046, Columbia, MD, USA

    Christopher J. Tennant

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  1. Keith J. Gooch Ph.D.
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  2. Christopher J. Tennant
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, E-25-342, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Keith J. Gooch Ph.D.

  2. 6442 Amherst Avenue, 21046, Columbia, MD, USA

    Christopher J. Tennant

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gooch, K.J., Tennant, C.J. (1997). Mechanotransduction. In: Gooch, K.J., Tennant, C.J. (eds) Mechanical Forces: Their Effects on Cells and Tissues. Biotechnology Intelligence Unit. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03420-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03420-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-03422-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03420-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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