Date of Award
Spring 2021
Degree Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Philosophy, PhD
Program
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Parag Katira
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Paul Paolini
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Christal Sohl
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Ali Nadim
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Rights Information
© 2021 Esteban Vazquez-Hidalgo
Keywords
actin, calcium, cancer, computational model, myosin
Abstract
Chemical and mechanical signaling are essential for physiological processes. Dysregu- lation of these signals can promote disease states by altering force generation. It is cru- cial that we understand how these signals affect force generation and the implication of that force in health and disease. We approach this by investigating cells from two types of tissues: heart tissue cells and epithelial tumor cells. Chemical signaling by intracellu- lar calcium directly regulates heart contractions. Altered calcium handling in heart cells is known to affect force generation in the heart, leading deleterious effects resulting in cardiovascular disease. Chemical and mechanical signaling in epithelial affect epithe- lial cell force generation. Responses to chemomechanical signals that increase force by epithelial cells has been shown to increase metastatic potential in tumors. The need to understand how these signals affect force generation could provide new insights in identifying targets for treatment. We use computational models to help us gain mech- anistic insight into how cells regulate force generation as a response to chemical and mechanical cues.
ISBN
9798762177382
Recommended Citation
Vazquez-Hidalgo, Esteban. (2021). Force regulation in contractile cells by chemical and mechanical signaling. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 305. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/305.
