Open Access

ARTICLE

He Gong^∗,†, Ming Zhang^‡
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 1-12, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.001
Abstract In mechanical disuse conditions associated with immobilization and microgravity in spaceflight, cortical endosteal surface moved outward with periosteal surface moving slightly or unchanged, resulting in reduction of cortical thickness. Reduced thickness of the shaft cortex of long bone can be considered as an independent predictor of fractures. Accordingly, it is important to study the remodeling process at cortical endosteal surface. This paper presents a computer simulation of cortical endosteal remodeling induced by mechanical disuse at the Basic Multicellular Units level with cortical thickness as controlling variables. The remodeling analysis was performed on a representative rectangular… More >

View

1610

Download

1118

Open Access

ARTICLE

Fan Song^*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 13-24, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.013
Abstract The electrostatic interaction effects including the interaction potential, force and torque between the neighboring chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (CS-GAG) molecular chains in the bottle brush conformation of proteoglycan aggrecan are obtained as the functions of the minimum separation distance and the mutual angle between the molecular chains based on an asymptotic solution of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation that the CS-GAGs satisfy under the normal physiological conditions of articular cartilage. The present study indicates that the electrostatic interactions are not only associated intimately with the separation distance and the mutual angle, which are shown as purely exponential in… More >

View

1384

Download

1070

Open Access

ARTICLE

W. Herzog ^∗,†, V. Joumaa*, T.R. Leonard*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 25-32, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.025
Abstract This article has no abstract. More >

View

1422

Download

1196

Open Access

ARTICLE

Ning Wang^*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 33-44, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.033
Abstract Professor Y.C. Fung has shown that living tissues remodel extensively in response to mechanical forces such as blood pressure variations. At the cellular level, those mechanical perturbations must be perceived by individual cells. However, mechanisms of mechanochemical transduction in living cells remain a central challenge to cell biologists. Contrary to predictions by existing models of living cells, we reported previously that a local stress, applied via integrin receptors, is propagated to remote sites in the cytoplasm and is concentrated at discrete foci. Here we report that these foci of strains and stresses in the cytoplasm More >

View

1604

Download

1196

Open Access

ARTICLE

Q Wang^*, YP Zheng^∗,†, HJ Niu^∗,‡
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 45-58, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.045
Abstract This study aims to obtain osmosis-induced swelling strains of normal and proteoglycan (PG) depleted articular cartilage using an ultrasound system and to investigate the changes in its mechanical properties due to the PG depletion using a layered triphasic model. The swelling strains of 20 cylindrical cartilage-bone samples collected from different bovine patellae were induced by decreasing the concentration of bath saline and monitored by the ultrasound system. The samples were subsequently digested by a trypsin solution for approximately 20 min to deplete proteoglycans, and the swelling behaviors of the digested samples were measured again. The… More >

View

1657

Download

1206