Effects of Intermittent and Incremental Cyclic Stretch on ERK Signaling and Collagen Production in Engineered Tissue.

ABSTRACT: Intermittent cyclic stretching and incrementally increasing strain amplitude cyclic stretching were explored to overcome the reported adaptation of fibroblasts in response to constant amplitude cyclic stretching, with the goals of accelerating collagen production and understanding the underlying cell signaling. The effects of constant amplitude, intermittent, and incremental cyclic stretching regimens were investigated for dermal fibroblasts entrapped in a fibrin gel by monitoring the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and p38 pathways, collagen transcription, and finally the deposited collagen protein. Activation of ERK1/2, which has been shown to be necessary for stretch-induced collagen transcription, was maximal at 15 min and decayed by 1 h. ERK1/2 was reactivated by an add

SUBMITTER: Schmidt JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4840278 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature