Mechanical Communication Acts as a Noise Filter.

ABSTRACT: Cells can communicate mechanically by responding to mechanical deformations generated by their neighbors. Here, we describe a new role for mechanical communication by demonstrating that mechanical coupling between cells acts as a signaling cue that reduces intrinsic noise in the interacting cells. We measure mechanical interaction between beating cardiac cells cultured on a patterned flexible substrate and find that beat-to-beat variability decays exponentially with coupling strength. To demonstrate that such noise reduction is indeed a direct consequence of mechanical coupling, we reproduce the exponential decay in an assay where a beating cell interacts mechanically with an artificial stochastic 'mechanical cell'. The mechanical cell consists of a probe that mimics the deformations gener

SUBMITTER: Viner H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6441679 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature