title: Tissue mechanics regulate brain development, homeostasis and disease.
abstract: All cells sense and integrate mechanical and biochemical cues from their environment to orchestrate organismal development and maintain tissue homeostasis. Mechanotransduction is the evolutionarily conserved process whereby mechanical force is translated into biochemical signals that can influence cell differentiation, survival, proliferation and migration to change tissue behavior. Not surprisingly, disease develops if these mechanical cues are abnormal or are misinterpreted by the cells - for example, when interstitial pressure or compression force aberrantly increases, or the extracellular matrix (ECM) abnormally stiffens. Disease might also develop if the ability of cells to regulate their contractility becomes corrupted. Consistently, disease states, such as cardiovascular disease, fibrosis and cancer, are characterized by dramatic changes in cell and tissue mechanics, and dysregulation of forces at the cell and tissue level can activate mechanosignaling to compromise tissue integrity and function, and promote disease progression. In this Commentary, we discuss the impact of cell and tissue mechanics on tissue homeostasis and disease, focusing on their role in brain development, homeostasis and neural degeneration, as well as in brain cancer.
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration, Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: J Matthew
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration, Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Laralynne
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8598-4779
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Przybyla
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration, Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94143, USA Valerie.Weaver@ucsf.edu.|Departments of Anatomy, Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Radiation Oncology, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research and The Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Valerie M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1991-6329
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Weaver
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
keywords: Glioma; Mechanobiology; Mechanotransduction; Microenvironment; Neurodegeneration