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The Force in Biology. Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Oct 2008, Pages: 172
Understanding forces in the context of biology is
essential as all cells in the human
body are constantly subjected to mechanical forces
and are often presented with situations where
adaptations are critical for survival. Mechanical
adaptations in response to forces have been studied
mainly though visualization of changes in
cytoskeletal structures and understanding the
corresponding signaling pathways. These
observations are informative in elucidating
regulating proteins and cellular phenotype, but do
not offer insights to the effects, or cell
mechanics, of these cellular changes and
regulations. A few important questions remain: 1)
what are the corresponding mechanical changes, 2)
how do these mechanical changes help the cell adapt,
3) is it possible these adaptations result in
unforeseen consequences, and 4) if so, do they
result in disease? Due to technical limitations,
only a portion of the answers have been explored to
date. In an attempt to answer these questions, we
present studies that use novel insights to quantify
changes in cell and nuclear mechanics and reveal the
potential impact forces play in cancer and aging.
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