All articles tagged with #mechanobiology
New research shows that growing tissues crack and reform through controlled, constructive fractures that sculpt embryos and organs—fluid-driven fractures between cells form cavities in mouse zygotes to create the blastocyst, fracture-guided formation of zebrafish heart trabeculae, and similar cracking patterns in elephant skin—revealing physics as a fundamental driver of development and evolution.
Researchers have confirmed that human cells have resonant frequencies, which are specific rates of vibration that can cause cells to oscillate more intensely. Using microcantilevers, they detected cell vibrations in the ranges of 10 to 30 kilohertz and 150 to 180 kilohertz, with the lower range being near the threshold of human hearing. This discovery could lead to advancements in understanding cell mechanobiology and potentially in detecting and treating diseases by identifying changes in cellular resonant frequencies or destroying diseased cells with targeted sound waves. The study's findings are set to be published in PRX Life.
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have found that wavy wounds heal faster than straight wounds because the swirling or vortex-like movement of cells near wavy shaped wounds is crucial to gap bridging, which accelerates the wound healing process. The study contributes new knowledge to the field of mechanobiology and could help surgeons develop better strategies for patients' wound care. The findings open the door to the development of more effective strategies to speed up wound healing, for better wound management, tissue repair, and plastic surgery.