title: Hydraulic fracturing in cells and tissues: fracking meets cell biology.
abstract: The animal body is largely made of water. A small fraction of body water is freely flowing in blood and lymph, but most of it is trapped in hydrogels such as the extracellular matrix (ECM), the cytoskeleton, and chromatin. Besides providing a medium for biological molecules to diffuse, water trapped in hydrogels plays a fundamental mechanical role. This role is well captured by the theory of poroelasticity, which explains how any deformation applied to a hydrogel causes pressure gradients and water flows, much like compressing a sponge squeezes water out of it. Here we review recent evidence that poroelastic pressures and flows can fracture essential biological barriers such as the nuclear envelope, the cellular cortex, and epithelial layers. This type of fracture is known in engineering literature as hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking'.
authors.affiliation: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech, Spain. Electronic address: marino.arroyo@upc.edu.
authors.forename: Marino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arroyo
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain; Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina, 28029 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: xtrepat@ibecbarcelona.eu.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Trepat
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014867:Water