Mechanical modulation study of an adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell under pressure loading: A numerical investigation on cell engineering

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the potential to differentiate to other cells and this feature makes it as an attractive source in tissue engineering. Mesenchymal stem cells are subjected to many mechanical stimuli in vivo such as an in vivo pressure loading and one of the cell respond to these stimuli is differentiation to cartilage or bone cell. One of the most significant ways for this goal is a process which is called mechanotransduction which can activate many biochemical signals in cell components. The biomechanical pathways for signal transmission are unknown and recent developmental findings indicate that forces which cause cell deformation are involved. Cell behavior is analyzed in this paper based on mechanical behavior of cell components. This study introduces an ideal method using finite element modeling which focuses on the cell mechanics using computational tools. This study is conducted in order to simulate an experimental situation in which cell deformation occurs. This method is used to analyze the strain distribution in the cell and play a key role in estimating the cell behavior under pressure loading.