8 July 2019 Stress and strain

Our body, our organs, ours cells are submitted to mechanical stress. The influence of mechanical stress of living organisms is omnipresent. It depends not only on environmental and endogenous loads (pressure exerted by cavities and blood) but also on intrinsic mechanical factors of organs, such as shape, architecture, and mechanical properties of tissues.

Mechanical stress could be the cause, the consequence, and/or might also simultaneously interact with biological processes. Cells are continuously subjected to mechanical forces that influence cell division, gene expression, cell migration, morphogenesis, cell adhesion, fluid homeostasis, ion channel gating, and vesicular transport.