Roles of Mechanical Force and Mechanotransduction in Fate of Stem Cells

Stem cells are undifferentiated progenitor cells that are accepted as a source of seed cells for therapeutic applications in tissue regeneration and as a model to investigate the lineage-specific differentiation of stem cells. Outstanding research in recent years has shed light on the role of micro-environment of stem cells in the proliferation and differentiation. Although studies have indicated that soluble mediators such as cytokines and growth factors play a significant role in proliferation and differentiation of stem cells, a critical role for mechanical force and mechanotransduction in controlling self-renewal, differentiation, aging and apoptosis of stem cells has also been revealed. In this review, we summarize and discuss the mechanisms of cells' response to mechanical stimuli, the biomechanical force as a regulator for stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, and the putative mechanisms of mechanotransduction.