Mechanotransduction

Mechanotransduction (mechano + transduction) is any of various mechanisms by which cells convert mechanical stimulus into electrochemical activity. This form of sensory transduction is responsible for a number of senses and physiological processes in the body, including proprioception, touch, balance, and hearing. The basic mechanism of mechanotransduction involves converting mechanical signals into electrical or chemical signals. Mechanotransduction (mechano + transduction) is any of various mechanisms by which cells convert mechanical stimulus into electrochemical activity. This form of sensory transduction is responsible for a number of senses and physiological processes in the body, including proprioception, touch, balance, and hearing. The basic mechanism of mechanotransduction involves converting mechanical signals into electrical or chemical signals. In this process, a mechanically gated ion channel makes it possible for sound, pressure, or movement to cause a change in the excitability of specialized sensory cells and sensory neurons. The stimulation of a mechanoreceptor causes mechanically sensitive ion channels to open and produce a transduction current that changes the membrane potential of the cell. Typically the mechanical stimulus gets filtered in the conveying medium before reaching the site of mechanotransduction. Cellular responses to mechanotransduction are variable and give rise to a variety of changes and sensations. Broader issues involved include molecular biomechanics. Single-molecule biomechanics studies of proteins and DNA, and mechanochemical coupling in molecular motors have demonstrated the critical importance of molecular mechanics as a new frontier in bioengineering and life sciences. Protein domains, connected by intrinsically disordered flexible linker domains, induce long-range allostery via protein domain dynamics.The resultant dynamic modes cannot be generally predicted from static structures of either the entire protein or individual domains. They can however be inferred by comparing different structures of a protein (as in Database of Molecular Motions). They can also be suggested by sampling in extensive molecular dynamics trajectories and principal component analysis, or they can be directly observed using spectrameasured by neutron spin echo spectroscopy. Current findings indicate that the mechanotransduction channel in hair cells is a complex biological machine. Mechanotransduction also includes the use of chemical energy to do mechanical work. One such mechanism is the opening of ion channels in the hair cells of the cochlea in the inner ear. Air pressure changes in the ear canal cause the vibrations of the tympanic membrane and middle ear ossicles. At the end of the ossicular chain, movement of the stapes footplate within the oval window of the cochlea, in turn, generates a pressure field within the cochlear fluids, imparting a pressure differential across the basilar membrane. A sinusoidal pressure wave results in localized vibrations of the organ of Corti: near the base for high frequencies, near the apex for low frequencies. The cochlea thus acts as an 'acoustic prism', distributing the energy of each Fourier component of a complex sound at different locations along its longitudinal axis. Hair cells in the cochlea are stimulated when the basilar membrane is driven up and down by differences in the fluid pressure between the scala vestibuli and scala tympani. Because this motion is accompanied by a shearing motion between the tectorial membrane and the reticular lamina of the organ of Corti, the hair bundles that link the two are deflected, which initiates mechano-electrical transduction. When the basilar membrane is driven upward, shear between the hair cells and the tectorial membrane deflects hair bundles in the excitatory direction, toward their tall edge. At the midpoint of an oscillation the hair bundles resume their resting position. When the basilar membrane moves downward, the hair bundles are driven in the inhibitory direction. Basilar Membrane motion causes a shearing motion between the reticular lamina and the tectorial membrane, thereby activating the mechano-sensory apparatus of the hair bundle, which in turn generates a receptor potential in the hair cells. Thus the sound pressure wave is transduced to an electrical signal which can be processed as sound in higher parts of the auditory system. When a deformation is imposed on a muscle, changes in cellular and molecular conformations link the mechanical forces with biochemical signals, and the close integration of mechanical signals with electrical, metabolic, and hormonal signaling may disguise the aspect of the response that is specific to the mechanical forces. One of the main mechanical functions of articular cartilage is to act as a low-friction, load-bearing surface. Due to its unique location at joint surfaces, articular cartilage experiences a range of static and dynamic forces that include shear, compression and tension. These mechanical loads are absorbed by the cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM), where they are subsequently dissipated and transmitted to chondrocytes (cartilage cells).