[Mechanotransduction and tensegrity (I)].
The current review deals with mechanotransduction by means of an architectural model of cell function called tensegrity. This concept was introduced by D. E. Ingber in order to frame more focused mechanisms of mechano-transduction, i.e. different signaling pathways, which are less able to predict global cellular behaviour in response to stress, into a coherent mechano-chemical theory of cell function. Tensegrity structures are made and held up by interconnecting a continuous series of tension elements with a discontinuous series of compression resistant struts, in a simple "stick and string" model. These structures develops an intrinsic stabilizing tension called prestress and reacts by global rearrangements of their configuration to a local action of a mechanical stress. The only requirement of a tensegrity network is that tension is continuous and compression is local. At the cellular level the theory assumes that membrane, nucleus and all the organelles are hard-wired by the insoluble cytoskeletal (CSK) scaffold. More than that, the interconnection between CSK and the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides an efficient mechanical couple responsible for changes in cell shape and movement. Cell shape, in turn, regulates cellular function. Focal adhesion complexes, which mediate the CSK-ECM interaction are viewed as integrative devices for both mechanical signaling and soluble factor-dependent signaling. Furthermore, the tensegral molecular network is considered to be a solid-state regulatory system of all cell functions. The way tensegrity influences molecular mechanics, cellular response tuning and coordinated behaviour of large scale structures are also discussed. Besides its conceptual importance, the tensegrity model has multiple applications, being used in combined approach of cell biology, bioengineering, architecture, and biomechanics in order both to improve cell culture and its subsequent applications and the open the way to a more complex technology of tissular engineering.
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Disciplina de Fiziopatologie, Facultatea de Medicină, Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie Gr. T. Popa.
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D000818:Animals; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008961:Models, Structural; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical