A brief history of tendon and ligament bioreactors: Impact and future prospects.

Bioreactors are powerful tools with the potential to model tissue development and disease in vitro. For nearly four decades, bioreactors have been used to create tendon and ligament tissue-engineered constructs in order to define basic mechanisms of cell function, extracellular matrix deposition, tissue organization, injury, and tissue remodeling. This review provides a historical perspective of tendon and ligament bioreactors and their contributions to this advancing field.

Etiology of Chronic Liver Disease in Ethiopia: A Case Control Study with Special Reference to Viral Hepatitis and Alcohol.

Introduction: Chronic diseases of the liver are a global health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Viral hepatitis is the predominant cause for liver disease in low and middle-income countries. Viral hepatitis is also frequent in high-income countries but mainly as a complication to drug abuse or iatrogenic to treatment.

Key developments that impacted the field of mechanobiology and mechanotransduction.

Advances in mechanobiology have evolved through insights from multiple disciplines including structural engineering, biomechanics, vascular biology, and orthopaedics. In this paper, we reviewed the impact of key reports related to the study of applied loads on tissues and cells and the resulting signal transduction pathways. We addressed how technology has helped advance the burgeoning field of mechanobiology (over 33,600 publications from 1970 to 2016).

Cell Signaling in Tenocytes: Response to Load and Ligands in Health and Disease.

Signaling in tenocytes during development, homeostasis and injury involves multiple and redundant pathways. Given that tendons transmit mechanical forces from muscle to bone to effect movement, a key function for tenocytes is the detection of and response to mechanical stimulation. Mechanotransduction involves matrix-integrin-cytoskeleton to nucleus signaling, gap junction intercellular communication, changes in intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)), activation of receptors and their pathways, and responses to biochemical factors such as hormones, growth factors, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and its derivatives, and neuromodulators.