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Shu Q. Liu^∗,†, Brandon J. Teft^*, Li-Qun Zhang^‡, Yan Chun Li^§, Yu H. Wu^*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 59-76, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.059
Abstract The activities of vascular cells, including adhesion, proliferation, and migration, are mediated by extracellular matrix components, including collagen matrix and elastic fibers or laminae. Whereas the collagen matrix stimulates vascular cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration, the elastic laminae inhibit these activities. Coordinated regulation of cell activities by these matrix components is an essential process for controlling the development and remodeling of the vascular system. This article summarizes recent development on the role of arterial elastic laminae in regulating the development of smooth muscle-like cells from bone marrow-derived progenitor cells as well as in mediating cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration with… More >

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Shile Liang^†, Meghan Hoskins^†, Cheng Dong^‡
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 77-91, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.077
Abstract To complete the metastatic journey, cancer cells have to disseminate through the circulation and extravasate to distal organs. However, the extravasation process, by which tumor cells leave a blood vessel and invade the surrounding tissue from the microcirculation, remains poorly understood at the molecular level. In this study, tumor cell adhesion to the endothelium (EC) and subsequent extravasation were investigated under various flow conditions. Results have shown polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) facilitate melanoma cell adhesion to the EC and subsequent extravasation by a shear-rate dependent mechanism. Melanoma cell-PMN interactions are mediated by the binding between intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on melanoma… More >

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Xituan Shang^*, Michael R. T. Yen^1,†, M. Waleed Gaber^‡
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 93-104, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.093
Abstract The objective of this research is to conduct mechanical property studies of skin from two individual but potentially connected aspects. One is to determine the mechanical properties of the skin experimentally by biaxial tests, and the other is to use the finite element method to model the skin properties. Dynamic biaxial tests were performed on 16 pieces of abdominal skin specimen from rats. Typical biaxial stress-strain responses show that skin possesses anisotropy, nonlinearity and hysteresis. To describe the stress-strain relationship in forms of strain energy function, the material constants of each specimen were obtained and the results show a high… More >

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Yequan Wang^*, Li Yang^*, Jin Zhang^*, Ruyue Xue^*, Zhenyu Tang^*, Wei Huang^†, Dianming Jiang^†, Xinyan Tang^*, Peter Chen^‡, KL Paul Sung^{∗,‡,§,¶}
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 105-114, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.105
Abstract The anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, cartilage and meniscus in human knee joint have poor healing ability. Accumulation of MMPs in the joint fluids due to knee injury has been considered as the main reason. Our previous experiments showed that synovium may be the major regulator of MMPs in joint cavity after injury. In this paper, we used human synoviocytes harvested from synovium to determine whether mechanical injury and inflammatory factors will induce MMP-2 production in synoviocytes. With zymography, we found that mechanical compression increased the MMP-2 production by 23% under 6% compressions, 61% under 12% compression and 109%… More >

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681

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Ruyue Xue^*, Li Yang^*, Zhenyu Tang^*, Jin Zhang^*, YequanWang^*, Xinyan Tang^*, Jiahuan Jiang^*, Yupeng Wu^*, Ruifang Yang^*, Peter Chen^†, KL Paul Sun
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 115-124, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.115
Abstract Human anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has poor healing ability after injury. The devastating effects of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) excess expression are regarded as the main reason. Tissue inhibitor metalloproteinases (TIMPs) may be independent of MMPs inhibition. In this paper, a rat ACL rotating injury apparatus was designed to produce ACL injury. After inducing injury, joint fluids and ACL tissue total proteins were immediately extracted. In addition, ACL tissue was isolated in a culture plate with 1%FBS medium for the ex vivo study. We found MMP-2 in joint fluids increased significantly by 4 folds after ACL injury as a function of… More >

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