Tension-Induced Stiffening of Cytoskeletal Components Regulates Cardiomyocyte Contractility

Abstract

Cardiomyocytes continuously experience mechanical stimuli that regulate their contractile behavior and contribute to overall heart function. Despite the importance of mechanotransduction in cardiac physiology, the mechanisms by which cardiomyocytes integrate external mechanical cues, such as stretch and environmental stiffness, remain poorly understood. In this study, we present a combined theoretical and experimental framework to investigate how strain-induced cytoskeletal stiffening modulates cardiomyocyte contractility and force generation. Our study elucidates that regulating the mechanical tension cardiomyocytes experience in tissue--whether by modulating environmental stiffness, external stretching, or cardiac fibroblast activation--can effectively tune their contractility, with cytoskeletal strain stiffening playing a central role in this mechanotransductive response.