Mechanosensation: a basic cellular process.

It has been shown that focal adhesion proteins are crucial for the ability of cells to transmit external forces and to generate cytoskeletal tension. Force transmission over considerable distances and stress focusing at the focal adhesion sites make them prime candidates for mechanosensors. Temporal and spatial changes in the cytoskeletal protein configuration due to mechanical stimulation have been detected and characterized by a wide range of biophysical techniques, including magnetic twisting, magnetic tweezer, traction microscopy, atomic force microscopy, nanoscale particle tracking, and many more. The combination of these techniques will help to understand force transmission and structural remodeling in cells under loading conditions. Force transmission and force sensing represent basic biological processes that are crucial for a variety of higher fundamental cell functions including cell division, motility, and differentiation that have implications in medicine and biology.