Megumi Baba¹, Aya Shinmura¹, Shigeru Tada¹, Taku Amo², Akira Tsukamoto^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, No.1, pp. 1-12, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.05199

Abstract Mitochondria in endothelial cells remodel morphologically when supraphysiological cyclic stretch is exerted on the cells. During remodeling, mitochondria become shorter, but how they do so remains elusive. Drp1 is a regulator of mitochondrial morphologies. It shortens mitochondria by shifting the balance from mitochondrial fusion to fission. In this study, we hypothesized that Drp1 activation is involved in mitochondrial remodeling under supraphysiological cyclic stretch. To verify the involvement of Drp1, its activation was first quantified with Western blotting, but Drp1 was not significantly activated in endothelial cells under supraphysiological cyclic stretch. Next, Drp1 activation was inhibited with Mdivi-1, but this did… More >

Xu Zhang^1,‡, Jie Gao^2,‡, Xinke Yao¹, Zhengze Dai^3,4, Gelin Xu^2,*, Yan Cai^1,*, Zhiyong Li^1,5,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, No.1, pp. 27-39, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.06140

Abstract Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is often used to evaluate the morphological and pathological changes of cerebral arteries in clinical practice. This study aims to explore the possibility of assessing cerebral hypoperfusion with DSA in patients with carotid stenosis. Thirty patients with a mild to severe stenosis on one side, and a mild stenosis on the other side of the carotid artery were recruited. Frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes were chosen as regions of interest for measuring the quantitative perfusion parameters from their time-density curves (TDCs) of DSA images. The perfusion parameters were compared between the two hemispheres by using… More >

Wenjia Wang^{1, 2}, Xiuqing Qian^{1, 2}, Qi Li^{1, 2}, Gong Zhang^{1, 2}, Huangxuan Zhao^{1, 2}, Tan Li^{1, 2}, Yang Yu^{1, 2}, Hongfang Song^{1, 2, *}, Zhicheng Liu^{1, 2, *}

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, No.1, pp. 59-74, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.06393

Abstract Pupillary block is considered as an important cause of primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). In order to investigate the effect of pupillary block on the hydrodynamics of aqueous humor (AH) in anterior chamber (AC) and potential risks, a 3D printed eye model was developed to mimic the AH flow driven by fluid generation, the differential pressure between AC and posterior chambers (PC) and pupillary block. Particle image velocimetry technology was applied to visualize flow distribution. The results demonstrated obvious differences in AH flow with and without pupillary block. Under the normal condition (without pupillary block), the flow filed of AH was… More >

Xiaozhong Chen^1,*, Zhijian Mao¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.4, pp. 229-241, 2018, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2018.03818

Abstract Shape optimization of orthopedic fixation plate is of great importance in the treatment of complex fracture. Therefore, a method in this paper to automatically optimize the complex shape of anatomical plate according to static analysis. Based on the theory of finite element analysis (FEA), our approach is processed as follows. First, the three-dimensional finite element model of the fracture fixation is constructed. Next, according to the type and feature of fracture, the anatomical plate was parameterized in two levels (the bounding surface and plate model). Then, parameter constraints are set up to meet the needs of surgical fracture treatment. Finally,… More >

Zahra Niki Boroujeni¹, Atefeh Shirkav¹, Seyed Ahmad Aleyasin^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.4, pp. 215-227, 2018, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2018.01813

Abstract Down syndrome critical region 1 gene (DSCR1) is an anti-angiogenesis gene that inhibits the growth of tumor cells. In this study, the role of autophagy and apoptosis in DSCR1-induced cytotoxicity were investigated in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. Lentivirus vector harboring DSCR1 (LV-DSCR1⁺) was constructed in HEK 293 cells and the optimal dosage of lentivirus vector for infection was determined by the MTT assay. After infection of cells using LV-DSCR1⁺, acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining was performed to investigation of apoptosis and autophagy. Expression of DSCR1 and marker genes for angiogenesis (VEGF), apoptosis (Bax and Bcl2) and autophagy (LC3 and… More >

Junhao Yang¹, Chunxiao Chen^1,*, Qingyang Zang¹, Jianfei Li¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.4, pp. 203-214, 2018, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2018.03824

Abstract Pathological slide is increasingly applied in the diagnosis of breast tumors despite the issues of large amount of data, slow viewing and high subjectivity. To overcome these problems, a micrograph recognition method based on convolutional neural network is proposed for pathological slide of breast tumor. Combined with multi-channel threshold and watershed segmentation, a sample database including single cell, adhesive cell and invalid cell was established. Then, the convolution neural network with six layers is constructed, which has ability to classify the stained breast tumor cells with accuracy of more than 90%, and evaluate the proliferation level with relative error of… More >

Qingyu Wang¹, Dalin Tang^1,2,*, Gador Canton³, Zheyang Wu², Thomas S. Hatsukami⁴, Kristen L. Billiar⁵, Chun Yuan⁶

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.4, pp. 189-201, 2018, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2018.04572

Abstract Cardiovascular diseases are closely linked to atherosclerotic plaque development and rupture. Assessment of plaque vulnerability is of fundamental significance to cardiovascular research and disease diagnosis, prevention, treatment and management. Magnetic resonance image (MRI) data of carotid atherosclerotic plaques from 8 patients (5 male, 3 female; age: 62-83, mean=71) were acquired at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle by the Vascular Imaging Laboratory (VIL) with written informed consent obtained. Patient-specific vessel material properties were quantified using Cine MRI data for modeling use. 3D thin-layer models were used to obtain plaque stress and strain for plaque assessment. A stress-based plaque vulnerability index… More >

Ruihan Zhang^1,2, Junhao Yang¹, Chunxiao Chen^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.3, pp. 177-187, 2018, DOI: 10.3970/mcb.2018.04292

Abstract The proportion of cells staining for the nuclear antigen Ki-67 is an important predictive indicator for assessment of tumor cell proliferation and growth in routine pathological investigation. Instead of traditional scoring methods based on the experience of a trained laboratory scientist, deep learning approach can be automatically used to analyze the expression of Ki-67 as well. Deep learning based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) for image classification and single shot multibox detector (SSD) for object detection are used to investigate the expression of Ki-67 for assessment of biopsies from patients with breast cancer in this study. The results focus on… More >

Ying Mao¹, Chaojing Li¹, Peng Ge¹, Fujun Wang^1,*, Lu Wang^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.3, pp. 143-154, 2018, DOI: 10.3970/mcb.2018.03987

Abstract Heparin/ PEG-PCL core-shell microcarriers were fabricated in one-step via coaxial-electrospraying technology. Optimization of the coaxial-electrospraying processing is by controlling the PEG-PCL concentration, applied voltage, receiving distance, and feed rate. The influence of the electrospray parameters on microsphere morphology was studied by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The functional groups and components of the electrosprayed microspheres were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation proved the core-shell structure of heparin-loaded PEG-PCL microspheres. Drug loading and releasing study demonstrated that PEG-PCL concentration could control the encapsulation efficiency and releasing activity of the heparin in the microspheres.… More >

Solenne Mondésert-Deveraux^{1, *}, Rachele Allena², Denis Aubry¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.3, pp. 155-176, 2018, DOI: 10.3970/mcb.2018.03053

Abstract Cell migration is the cornerstone of many biological phenomena such as cancer metastasis, immune response or organogenesis. Adhesion-based motility is the most renown and examined motility mode, but in an adhesion-free confined environment or simply to achieve a higher migration speed, cells can adopt a very interesting bleb-based migration mode called “chimneying”. This mode rests on the sharp synchronization between the active contraction of the cells uropod and the passive friction force between the cell and the confining surface. In this paper, we propose a one dimensional poroelastic model of chimneying which considers the active strains of the cell, but,… More >