title: Role of physical forces in embryonic development.
abstract: Physical forces play essential roles in animal development. Given that embryonic development takes place under spatial constraints, cells experience forces from neighboring cells and/or remote tissues and can transduce such forces into biochemical signals. Cells can also generate forces through active migration, movement, or deformation and thereby influence the behavior of their neighbors. Although the contribution of mechanical forces to development has been well established in general, here I will focus on recent findings that address the involvement of physical forces in body axis determination, gastrulation and cardiovascular development.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Genetics Group, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, and CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), 1-3 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. Electronic address: hamada@fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000502:physiology*; D054262:Gastrulation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
keywords: Body axis; Convergent extension; Fluid flow; Symmetry breaking