| Abstract Scope |
Changes in biomechanical loads on the skeleton lead to adaptations in bone’s size, shape and/or material-level properties, called mechano-adaptation. Bone mechano-adaptation is multi-scale. Biomechanical loads transmitted throughout the skeleton, deform the bone matrix. Deformation of the bone matrix creates a mechanical stimulus. The interconnected network of osteocyte bone cells spread throughout the bone matrix uniquely positions them to sense the mechanical stimuli. The sensor cells translate the mechanical stimuli to a biochemical signal, which is communicated to effector cells to model or remodel the bone matrix in response to the mechanical stimulus. Altogether mechano-sensing and mechanotransduction at the tissue and cellular levels result in changes to the bone matrix to adapt the bone morphology and/or tissue-level properties to the mechanical environment. Here, I discuss multi-scale mechano-adaptation through the lens of abnormal biomechanics in cerebral palsy, the genetic disorder Marfan syndrome, and the osteocyte lacunocanalicular network’s role in adaptation in health. |