A Hyper-Viscoelastic Model for an Individual Stem Cell Subjected to Cyclic Loading for Mechanical Modulation toward Differentiating to Fibrochondrocytes

Stem cells due to their ability of self-renewing and the potential of differentiating to different cell lineages are the ideal choices in regenerative tissue engineering. Under cyclic loading, these cells could differentiate to those kind of cells that experience similar conditions inside the body, like osteocytes and chondrocytes. In this research, the purpose is to investigate the effect of the 10 percent cyclic strain with the frequency of 1 Hertz on the mechanical response of a single mesenchymal stem cell cultured in a fibrin hydrogel block, using the finite element method and considering the role of integrins and implementing the Simo’s hyper-viscoelastic model for the cytoskeleton as long as the uniaxial loading leads the cell to differentiate toward Fibrochondrocyte. The results of presented model show that the averages of the circumferential, radial and shear stresses are 240, 260 and 140 Pascal, respectively and corresponding forces are 24, 45 and 15 Pico-Newton. The results imply that stresses and forces generated inside the cytoskeleton are large enough to elicit a different response from the cell. This research results can be very effective for better designing of biological experiments.