There is substantial evidence that growth and remodeling of load bearing soft biological tissues is to a large extent controlled by mechanical factors. Mechanical homeostasis, which describes the natural tendency of such tissues to establish, maintain, or restore a preferred mechanical state, is thought to be one mechanism by which such control is achieved across multiple scales. Yet, many questions remain regarding what promotes or prevents homeostasis. Tissue equivalents, such as collagen gels seeded with living cells, have become an important tool to address these open questions under well-defined, though limited, conditions. This article briefly reviews the current state of research in this area. It summarizes, categorizes, and compares experimental observations from the literature that focus on the development of tension in tissue equivalents. It focuses primarily on uniaxial and biaxial experimental studies, which are well-suited for quantifying interactions between mechanics and biology. The article concludes with a brief discussion of key questions for future research in this field.

有大量证据表明，承载软生物组织的生长和重塑在很大程度上受机械因素控制。机械稳态描述了此类组织建立、维持或恢复首选机械状态的自然趋势，被认为是跨多个尺度实现这种控制的一种机制。然而，关于什么促进或阻止体内平衡仍然存在许多问题。组织等效物，例如接种活细胞的胶原凝胶，已成为在明确但有限的条件下解决这些开放问题的重要工具。本文简要回顾了该领域的研究现状。它对文献中的实验观察结果进行了总结、分类和比较，这些文献重点关注组织等效物中张力的发展。它主要侧重于单轴和双轴实验研究，非常适合量化力学和生物学之间的相互作用。本文最后简要讨论了该领域未来研究的关键问题。