3D uniaxial mechanical stimulation induces tenogenic differentiation of tendon‐derived stem cells through a PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

What is it about?

Mechanical loading being one of the regulator for stem cell differentiation and tissue formation has been well recognized. However, the underlying mechanism remained unclear, which is largely due to two reasons: lack of appropriated in vitro model and optimization of loading regime. Most of the studies on mechanobiology used wrong model by applying non physiological relevant force on the cell and reported misleading outcomes. For example, use 10% bi-axial tensile strain on osteoblast, which is excessive and non physio-relevant loading. In current study, we compare the commonly used loading model for tendon studies, and show that uni-axial loading is more physiological relevant compared to bi-axial loading in tendon mechanobiology study. Moreover, 3D uni-axial loading can closely mimic physiological loading in tendon tissue and reduced cell-cell communication similarly to the tendon maturation. Our study further indicates that 3D uni-axial loading induce tenogenic specific differentiation and tendon formation through PI3K/AKT pathway.

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