Physicochemical Control of Adult Stem Cell Differentiation: Shedding Light on Potential Molecular Mechanisms

Figure 1

A schematic view of the potential effect of physicochemical cues for osteodifferentiation. The inductive factors can diffuse across the cell membrane and produce immediate effects, while physical cues can couple to the cell surface molecules. We envision that the mechanical or electrical cues can modulate the Ca²⁺ dynamics by coupling to (1) ion channels, (2) G-protein coupled receptor-activated molecules (e.g., PLC), (3) integrin-mediated focal adhesion, and (4) ATP release [21, 64].