Mechanobiology in Biomedical Engineering

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 1639

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
Interests: mechanobiology; biomechanics; stem cells; tissue engineering

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Guest Editor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
Interests: tumor microenvironment; tissue fibrosis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advances in mechanobiology research continue to shape our understanding of how physical forces and mechanical properties influence biological processes in living organisms. Mechanobiology has significant implications for various fields. For instance, researchers incorporate mechanical cues into scaffold design and culture environments that promote the growth and differentiation of cells to form functional tissues. Understanding how mechanical forces influence cancer progression, metastasis, and response to treatment can lead to the development of novel cancer therapies and diagnostics. In orthopedics, mechanobiology research on bone and articular cartilage is crucial for developing treatments for osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The knowledge of how mechanical forces affect neuronal development, axon guidance, and neural regeneration is also valuable for understanding neurodegenerative diseases and developing neural implants and tissue engineering approaches for spinal cord injuries. Furthermore, mechanobiology has influenced drug discovery efforts by identifying mechanosensitive drug targets and developing screening assays that incorporate mechanical cues. Finally, understanding the mechanical properties and micromechanical environments of tissues and how they change under different conditions is a fundamental aspect of mechanobiology. In summary, mechanobiology has diverse applications across the fields of biology, medicine, and engineering. Its interdisciplinary approach allows researchers to gain insights into the complex interactions between mechanical forces and biological systems, leading to advancements in healthcare, tissue engineering, and our overall understanding of life processes. In this Special Issue, all original research articles and reviews in mechanobiology are welcome.

Dr. Chun-Yuh Huang
Dr. Zhipeng Meng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • mechanobiology
  • biomechanics
  • stem cells
  • tissue engineering
  • cancer
  • bone
  • articular cartilage
  • intervertebral disc
  • chondrocytes
  • tumor microenvironment
  • organ fibrosis
  • mechanotransduction

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4280 KiB  
Article
Validation and Estimation of Obesity-Induced Intervertebral Disc Degeneration through Subject-Specific Finite Element Modelling of Functional Spinal Units
by Nitesh Kumar Singh, Nishant K. Singh, Rati Verma and Ashish D. Diwan
Bioengineering 2024, 11(4), 344; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11040344 - 31 Mar 2024
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Abstract
(1) Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration has been linked to obesity; its potential mechanical effects on the intervertebral disc remain unknown. This study aimed to develop and validate a patient-specific model of L3–L4 vertebrae and then use the model to estimate the impact of [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration has been linked to obesity; its potential mechanical effects on the intervertebral disc remain unknown. This study aimed to develop and validate a patient-specific model of L3–L4 vertebrae and then use the model to estimate the impact of increasing body weight on disc degeneration. (2) Methods: A three-dimensional model of the functional spinal unit of L3–L4 vertebrae and its components were developed and validated. Validation was achieved by comparing the range of motions (RoM) and intradiscal pressures with the previous literature. Subsequently, the validated model was loaded according to the body mass index and estimated stress, deformation, and RoM to assess disc degeneration. (3) Results: During validation, L3–L4 RoM and intradiscal pressures: flexion 5.17° and 1.04 MPa, extension 1.54° and 0.22 MPa, lateral bending 3.36° and 0.54 MPa, axial rotation 1.14° and 0.52 MPa, respectively. When investigating the impact of weight on disc degeneration, escalating from normal weight to obesity reveals an increased RoM, by 3.44% during flexion, 22.7% during extension, 29.71% during lateral bending, and 33.2% during axial rotation, respectively. Also, stress and disc deformation elevated with increasing weight across all RoM. (4) Conclusions: The predicted mechanical responses of the developed model closely matched the validation dataset. The validated model predicts disc degeneration under increased weight and could lay the foundation for future recommendations aimed at identifying predictors of lower back pain due to disc degeneration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanobiology in Biomedical Engineering)
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16 pages, 8586 KiB  
Article
Development of an Anisotropic Hyperelastic Material Model for Porcine Colorectal Tissues
by Youssef Fahmy, Mohamed B. Trabia, Brian Ward, Lucas Gallup and Mary Froehlich
Bioengineering 2024, 11(1), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11010064 - 08 Jan 2024
Viewed by 751
Abstract
Many colonic surgeries include colorectal anastomoses whose leaks may be life-threatening, affecting thousands of patients annually. Various studies propose that mechanical interaction between the staples and neighboring tissues may play an important role in anastomotic leakage. Therefore, understanding the mechanical behavior of colorectal [...] Read more.
Many colonic surgeries include colorectal anastomoses whose leaks may be life-threatening, affecting thousands of patients annually. Various studies propose that mechanical interaction between the staples and neighboring tissues may play an important role in anastomotic leakage. Therefore, understanding the mechanical behavior of colorectal tissue is essential to characterizing the reasons for this type of failure. So far, experimental data characterizing the mechanical properties of colorectal tissue have been few and inconsistent, which has significantly limited understanding their behavior. This research proposes an approach to developing an anisotropic hyperelastic material model for colorectal tissues based on uniaxial testing of freshly harvested porcine specimens, which were collected from several age- and weight-matched pigs. The specimens were extracted from the same colon tract of each pig along their circumferential and longitudinal orientations. We propose a constitutive model combining Yeoh isotropic hyperelastic material with fibers oriented in two directions to account for the hyperelastic and anisotropic nature of colorectal tissues. Experimental data were used to accurately determine the model’s coefficients (circumferential, R2 = 0.9968; longitudinal, R2 = 0.9675). The results show that the proposed model can be incorporated into a finite element model that can simulate procedures such as colorectal anastomoses reliably. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanobiology in Biomedical Engineering)
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