Related papers: Temperature response of the neuronal cytoskeleton …
Detailed knowledge of mechanical parameters such as cell elasticity, stiffness of the growth substrate, or traction stresses generated during axonal extensions is essential for understanding the mechanisms that control neuronal growth. Here…
The influence of temperature on neuronal excitability is studied by numerical simulations on the spiking threshold characteristics of bushy cells in cochlear nucleus periodically stimulated by synaptic currents. The results reveal that…
The effect of environmental temperature on neuronal spiking behaviors is investigated by numerically simulating the temperature dependence of spiking threshold of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron subject to synaptic stimulus. We find that the…
Many different processes take place to facilitate lubrication of the joints functioning in human locomotion system. The main purpose of this is to avoid destroying the articular cartilage. Viscoelastic properties of the joints system are…
The temperature distribution within cells, especially the debates on mitochondrial temperature, has recently attracted widespread attention. Some studies have claimed that the temperature of mitochondria can reach up to 50-53 degrees…
Living cells adapt and respond actively to the mechanical properties of their environment. In addition to biochemical mechanotransduction, evidence exists for a myosin-dependent, purely mechanical sensitivity to the stiffness of the…
We study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the fracture of elastic networks, via simulations of the uniaxial extension of central-force spring networks with varying rigidity, i.e. connectivity. Studying their failure response, both…
Molecular transport maintains cellular structures and functions. For example, lipid and protein diffusion sculpts the dynamic shapes and structures on the cell membrane that perform essential cellular functions, such as cell signaling.…
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the temperature-dependent dynamics and structures of the hydration shells of elastin-like and collagen-like peptides. For both model peptides, it is consistently observed that, upon…
The ability of cells to sense and respond to the mechanical properties of their environments is fundamental to a range of cellular behaviours, with substrate stiffness increasingly being found to be a key signalling factor. Although active…
The actin cortex is a thin layer of actin, myosin, and actin binding proteins that underlies the membrane of most animal cells. It is highly dynamic and can undergo remodelling on time-scales of tens of seconds thanks to protein turnover…
Cell shape changes are vital for many physiological processes such as cell proliferation, cell migration and morphogenesis. They emerge from an orchestrated interplay of active cellular force generation and passive cellular force response -…
Living cells exhibit an important out-of-equilibrium mechanical activity, mainly due to the forces generated by molecular motors. These motor proteins, acting individually or collectively on the cytoskeleton, contribute to the violation of…
The cell cortex is a thin layer beneath the plasma membrane that gives animal cells mechanical resistance and drives most of their shape changes, from migration, division to multicellular morphogenesis. It is mainly composed of actin…
It is currently accepted that cortical maps are dynamic constructions that are altered in response to external input. Experience-dependent structural changes in cortical microcurcuts lead to changes of activity, i.e. to changes in…
There is compelling evidence that substrate stiffness affects cell adhesion as well as cytoskeleton organization and contractile activity. This work was designed to study the cytoskeletal contractile activity of cells plated on microposts…
The cytoskeleton protein actin assembles into large bundles when supporting stresses in the cell, but grows into a fine branched network to induce cell motion. Such self-organization processes are studied in artificial networks of…
We investigate the mechanical interplay between the spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton and the shape of animal cells adhering on micropillar arrays. Using a combination of analytical work, computer simulations and in vitro…
The temperature dependence of the elastocaloric (eC) effect in natural rubber (NR) is studied adiabatically and isothermally. A broad temperature span for eC effect from 0 oC to 49 oC is observed. The maximum adiabatic temperature change…
In water, networks of semi-flexible fibrils of the protein $\alpha$-synuclein stiffen significantly with increasing temperature. We make plausible that this reversible stiffening is a result of hydrophobic contacts between the fibrils that…