Mechanical stimulation such as flood flow often plays a vital role in the growth and maintenance of a living body, and it is important to investigate cell responses to mechanical stimulation. To date, cell responses to mechanical stimulation have been investigated in detail. However, the cell responses have been little known in a cell sheet. In the present study, a small cyclic strain (CS) of ~0.5% generated by a nanoporous gold actuator was loaded on a cell sheet of fibroblasts, and the effects of the CS on cell orientation were investigated. Individual cells were randomly distributed after the CS application, whereas cells were oriented in a specific direction after the CS application for the cell sheet. Thus, the CS had a different effect on the cell sheet from that on the individual cells. It is suggested that the cadherin/p-120 catenin complex played an important role in the cell response to mechanical stimulation in a cell sheet.

洪水等机械刺激通常在生物体的生长和维持中起着至关重要的作用，研究细胞对机械刺激的反应非常重要。迄今为止，已经详细研究了细胞对机械刺激的反应。然而，细胞表中的细胞反应鲜为人知。在本研究中，将由纳米多孔金致动器产生的约 0.5% 的小循环应变 (CS) 加载到成纤维细胞的细胞片上，并研究了 CS 对细胞取向的影响。单个细胞在 CS 应用后随机分布，而细胞在 CS 应用后以特定方向定向用于细胞片。因此，CS 对细胞片的影响与对单个细胞的影响不同。