ArticleAmerican journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology2008
Mechanical strain of alveolar type II cells in culture: changes in the transcellular cytokeratin network and adaptations.
Article in American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- High-pressure freezing of mechanically stretched cells.Journal of microscopy · 2025Article
- Dynamic mechanical stimulation of alveolar epithelial-fibroblast models using the Flexcell tension system to study of lung disease mechanisms.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Metabolite, protein, and tissue dysfunction associated with COVID-19 disease severity.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Quantitative mapping of keratin networks in 3D.eLife · 2022Article
- Plectin-mediated cytoskeletal crosstalk controls cell tension and cohesion in epithelial sheets.The Journal of cell biology · 2022Article
- Mechanobiology of Pulmonary Diseases: A Review of Engineering Tools to Understand Lung Mechanotransduction.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2021Review
- An Overview of the Role of Mechanical Stretching in the Progression of Lung Cancer.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- Defining a stimuli-response relationship in compensatory lung growth following major resection.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2014Article
- Separating in vivo mechanical stimuli for postpneumonectomy compensation: physiological assessment.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2013Article
- Keratin 8 phosphorylation regulates keratin reorganization and migration of epithelial tumor cells.Journal of cell science · 2012Article
- Article
- Mechanobiology in lung epithelial cells: measurements, perturbations, and responses.Comprehensive Physiology · 2012Review
- Review
- Recent advances and new opportunities in lung mechanobiology.Journal of biomechanics · 2010Review
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mechanical forces exert multiple effects in cells, ranging from altered protein expression patterns to cell damage and death. Despite undisputable biological importance, little is known about structural changes in cells subjected to strain ex vivo. Here, we undertake the first transmission electron microscopy investigation combined with fluorescence imaging on pulmonary alveolar type II cells that are subjected to equibiaxial strain. When cells are investigated immediately after stretch, we demonstrate that curved cytokeratin (CK) fibers are straightened out at 10% increase in cell surface area (CSA) and that this is accompanied by a widened extracellular gap of desmosomes-the insertion points of CK fibers. Surprisingly, a CSA increase by 20% led to higher fiber curvatures of CK fibers and a concurrent return of the desmosomal gap to normal values. Since 20% CSA increase also induced a significant phosphorylation of CK8-ser431, we suggest CK phosphorylation might lower the tensile force of the transcellular CK network, which could explain the morphological observations. Stretch durations of 5 min caused membrane injury in up to 24% of the cells stretched by 30%, but the CK network remained surprisingly intact even in dead cells. We conclude that CK and desmosomes constitute a strong transcellular scaffold that survives cell death and hypothesize that phosphorylation of CK fibers is a mechano-induced adaptive mechanism to maintain epithelial overall integrity.
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