Cytoskeleton changes tagged posts

International Space Station Expt looked at how Cells Change Shape in Microgravity and affect on Function

This image depicts filling the Cytospace experiment unit. Credit: Kayser Italia

This image depicts filling the Cytospace experiment unit. Credit: Kayser Italia

The Cell Shape and Expression, or Cytospace, investigation examined how physical forces – incl shear stress, stiffness, surface tension, and gravity – change the relationships among these proteins, interfering with cell architecture and changing the geometric form, or shape, of the cell.

“These cytoskeleton modifications enhance reframing of the cell shape and lead to significant changes in cell function and behavior,” explains Marco Vukich, Ph.D., with Kayser Italia in Italy. Shear stress in particular is known to cause several changes that can result in cell death and that affect cell division and permeability in addition to gene expression.

In microgravity, this series of events – a change in cytoskeleton st...

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