Comparison of the effects of possible mechanical stimuli on the rate of biochemical reactions.

The aim of this work is to address the question of what constitutes a mechanical stimulation of biochemical reactions in general and further to compare the importance of the two possible mechanical stimulations: shear rate and the rate of volume variation. Using linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics, the Curie principle (the relation for coupling phenomena) is retrieved for a phenomenological relation for a scalar flux in an isotropic system. From these phenomenological relations for the rate of chemical reaction, it is established that the only scalar quantity related to the rate of deformation tensor D that cannot be neglected is the rate of volume variation D((1)). This leads us to the conclusion that, although tissues are exposed to all variety of mechanical factors: straining, shear, pressure, and even dynamic electric fields, the volume variation rate D((1)) is the most important mechanical stimulus driving the processes in them.