A new apparatus for studying the effect of hydrostatic pressure on cells in culture : application to osteoblastic cells ROS 17/2.8.

Although mechanical stresses have long been recognized as an important factor in the regulation of bone remodeling, the mechanism underlying this effect has remained obscure. A number of methods have been devised to apply forces to bone tissues and bone-derived cells in order to investigate the biochemical results of mechanical stimuli. In this paper we report a method for applying a well controlled cyclic hydrostatic pressure on cultured ROS 17/2.8 osteoblastic lineage cells. This technique allows the investigation of the true frequency response of cells. Hydrostatic pressure with a 1 Hz frequency decreases alkaline phosphatase activity of confluent osteoblastic-like cells (ROS 17/2.8).