Mechano-molecular transduction: Putting the pieces together

When subjected to extracellular mechanical loads, cells express a variety of responses ranging from differentiation to apoptosis. The transducing mechanism between the physical stimulus and the molecular response is known as mechanotransduction. In this study, a mechano-molecular model is established that facilitates the integration of cellular mechanics with molecular signaling. It reveals a unique coupling mechanism between the physical stimuli, the extracellular mechanical properties, and the Rho signaling pathway. Myosin activation is shown to be correlated with the rate of intracellular activity and found to vary extremely for different extracellular rigidities. These findings can explain and interpret the fundamental observations of mechanotransduction.