Mechanobiology

It may come as a surprise to many that the reasons bones strengthen after exercise and some tumors experience abnormal growth are studied within the same scientific field. Mechanobiology, while usually outside the standard syllabus of most schools, is quite a valuable subject to understand, both for healthcare professionals and for people who strive to live better lives.

Mechanobiology is the study of how physical forces affect biological functions. At face value, this sentence is hard to grasp, but it becomes easier to understand when put into context. A man who runs on a treadmill will be facing compressive stress as his feet repeatedly exert a force onto the machine. In the process, the man’s bone cells lay down collagen that makes the bone denser and helps him adapt to these conditions. The product of this mechanical stress is a stronger shin.

Using this concept of “mechanical stress,” it is quite easy to infer the musculoskeletal outcomes of an individual who undergoes little to no mechanical pressure. While they are relaxed in the moment, their bones are weaker and more susceptible to severe injury when finally subject to a physical force. Muay Thai provides an example of applied mechanobiology, as practitioners condition their shins through repeated impact training. 

One common misconception amongst people who study mechanobiology is that the field only examines impacts in the musculoskeletal system. Part of what makes mechanobiology a vital field of study for anyone in the healthcare industry is due to the domain covering one of the most severe healthcare issues in the world today. Cancerous tumors. That’s right! The growth of a tumor is immensely affected by physical forces.

When a tumor forms, it causes the surrounding tissue to harden or stiffen. This creates a new environment for the tumor, and since the tissue continuously changes around the tumor, cancerous cells may be stimulated to grow at abnormal rates, which decreases the likelihood of safely removing the tumor through surgery. 

It is also important to note that mechanobiology doesn’t solely concern physical pressures affecting biological functions. Nutrition is still referenced countless times as a key contributor to functionality within cells. The structural properties of a cell are dependent on nutritional intake so with good nutrition the cells are more likely to be functional, but with poor nutrition, cells would collapse and lead to catastrophic healthcare problems. Certain foods also aid or aggravate the state of cell parts. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids work to increase the strength and flexibility of cell membranes while trans fats weaken cell membranes.

While some of these cases are virtually invariant, it is not a stretch to say that understanding mechanobiology could definitely play to the benefit of helping individuals sustain or improve mobility, be more knowledgeable on why certain biological dysfunctions occur within people, and to look at every single succeeding day in a new light. We can’t control everything but by making proper decisions influenced by mechanobiological perspectives, we can be more hopeful about sustaining quality lives.

References:

Guo, Chin-Lin, et al. “Multiscale Mechanobiology: Mechanics at the Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Levels.” Cell & Bioscience, vol. 3, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2013, pp. 25–25, https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-3701-3-25.

Gerum, Christian, et al. “The Unfolded State of the Murine Prion Protein and Properties of Single-Point Mutants Related to Human Prion Diseases.” Journal of Molecular Biology, vol. 401, no. 1, Aug. 2010, pp. 7–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2010.06.008. Accessed 19 Mar. 2022.

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