Piconewton Mechanical Forces Promote Neurite Growth

Vittoria Raffa, Francesca Falcone, Sara De Vincentiis, Alessandro Falconieri, Maria P. Calatayud, Gerardo F. Goya, Alfred Cuschieri

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)
169 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Investigations over half a century have indicated that mechanical forces induce neurite growth, with neurites elongating at a rate of 0.1–0.3 μm h−1 pN−1 when mechanical force exceeds a threshold, with this being identified as 400–1000 pN for neurites of PC12 cells. In this article, we demonstrate that neurite elongation of PC12 cells proceeds at the same previously identified rate on application of mechanical tension of ∼1 pN, which is significantly lower than the force generated in vivo by axons and growth cones. This observation raises the possibility that mechanical tension may act as an endogenous signal used by neurons for promoting neurite elongation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2026-2033
Number of pages8
JournalBiophysical Journal
Volume115
Issue number10
Early online date16 Oct 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Nov 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics

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