Microtubules and Vimentin Fiber Stability during Parabolic Flights
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Microtubules and Vimentin Fiber Stability during Parabolic Flights Simon L. Wuest 1 & Jaro Arnold 2 & Sarah Gander 3 & Christoph Zumbühl 3 & Christian Jost 3 & Christina Giger-Lange 1 & Geraldine Cerretti 1 & Martina Caliò 1 & Karin Rattenbacher-Kiser 1 & Cindy Follonier 1 & Othmar Schälli 3 & Gerhard S. Székely 2 & Marcel Egli 1 & Fabian Ille 1 Received: 20 March 2020 / Accepted: 8 July 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Adequate mechanical stimulation is essential for cellular health and tissue maintenance, including articular cartilage, which lines the articulating bones in joints. Chondrocytes, which are the sole cells found in articular cartilage, are responsible for matrix synthesis, maintenance and degradation. It is generally believed that chondrocytes require mechanical stimuli through daily physical activity for adequate cartilage homeostasis. However, to date, the molecular mechanisms of cellular force sensing (mechanotransduction) are not fully understood. Among other mechanisms, the cytoskeleton is thought to play a key role. Despite that gravity is a very small force at the cellular level, cytoskeletal adaptations have been observed under altered gravity conditions of a parabolic flight in multiple cell types. In this study, we developed a novel hardware which allowed to chemically fix primary bovine chondrocytes at 7 time points over the course of a 31-parabola flight. The samples were subsequently stained for the microtubules and vimentin network and microscopic images were acquired. The images showed a large heterogeneity among the cells in morphology as well as in the structure of both networks. In all, no changes or adaptions in cytoskeleton structure could be detected over the course of the parabolic flight. Keywords Articular chondrocytes . Cytoskeleton adaptation . Tubulin . Vimentin . Gravity . Parabolic Flight
Introduction Adequate mechanical stimulation is essential for cellular health and tissue maintenance, such as in articular
This article belongs to the Topical Collection on The Effect of Gravity on Physical and Biological Phenomena Guest Editor: Valentina Shevtsova Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-020-09818-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Fabian Ille [email protected] 1
Institute of Medical Engineering, Space Biology Group, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Engineering and Architecture, Hergiswil, Switzerland
2
Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Engineering and Architecture, Horw, Switzerland
3
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Engineering and Architecture, Horw, Switzerland
cartilage, which lines the articulating bones in joints. Articular cartilage absorbs shocks, reduces friction and wear and allows almost effortless movement. While an active lifestyle is beneficial to mainta
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