Cell plasticity is important in development and tissue remodeling. Cells can sense physical and chemical cues from their local microenvironment and transduce the signals into the nucleus to regulate the epigenetic state and gene expression, resulting in a change in cell phenotype. In this review, we highlight the role of mechanical cues in regulating stem cell differentiation and cell reprogramming through the modulation of histone modifications. The effects of various mechanical cues, including matrix stiffness, mechanical stretch, and shear stress, on cell fate during tissue regeneration and remodeling will be discussed. Taken together, recent work demonstrates that the alterations in histone modifications by mechanical stimuli can facilitate epigenetic changes during cell phenotypic switching, which has potential applications in the development of biomaterials and bioreactors for cell engineering.

细胞可塑性对于发育和组织重塑很重要。细胞可以感知局部微环境中的物理和化学信号，并将信号转导到细胞核中来调节表观遗传状态和基因表达，从而导致细胞表型的变化。在这篇综述中，我们强调了机械信号通过组蛋白修饰的调节来调节干细胞分化和细胞重编程的作用。将讨论组织再生和重塑过程中各种机械因素（包括基质刚度、机械拉伸和剪切应力）对细胞命运的影响。综上所述，最近的工作表明，机械刺激引起的组蛋白修饰的改变可以促进细胞表型转换过程中的表观遗传变化，这在细胞工程生物材料和生物反应器的开发中具有潜在的应用。