The use of in vitro models for investigating the response of fibrous joints to tensile mechanical stress

Abstract

To clarify the role of mechanical deformation in the remodeling of fibrous joints, organ culture systems have been developed to apply mechanical stress to cranial sutures under controlled experimental conditions. Tensile mechanical stress applied to cranial sutures from newborn rabbits produces a two- to threefold increase in protein synthesis and a twofold increase in collagen synthesis that can be detected within 6 hours. There is also a threefold increase in the DNA content of the sutures after 48 hours. Under normal conditions sutural fibroblasts synthesize type I collagen but respond to tensile deformation by synthesizing significant amounts of type III collagen. This suggests that the ..