NEW APPARATUS FOR STUDYING THE EFFECT OF HYDROSTATIC-PRESSURE ON CELLS IN CULTURE - APPLICATION TO OSTEOBLASTIC CELLS ROS-17 2.8/

Although mechanical stresses have long been recognized as an important factor in the regulation of bone remodeling, the mechanism underlying this effect has remained obscure. A number of methods have been devis ed to apply forces to bone tissues and bone-derived cells in order to investigate the biochemical results of mechanical stimuli. In this pap er we report a method for applying a well controlled cyclic hydrostati c pressure on cultured ROS 17/2.8 osteoblastic lineage cells. This tec hnique allows the investigation of the true frequency response of cell s. Hydrostatic pressure with a 1 Hz frequency decreases alkaline phosp hatase activity of confluent osteoblastic-like cells (ROS 17/2.8).