This volume presents a lucid description and timely organization of our
present understanding of how the various tissues and organs of the body
sense their mechanical environment and pass on this sensory information.
In our early education one learns of our five senses (seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, and touching). Each of these senses is associated with a
specialized type of cell that is a transducer of environmental signals and
which also transmits this sensory information to the brain. Beyond these
five senses there is a larger community of transducer cells in our tissues that
communicate their sensory readings to local tissue- or organ-based control
systems rather than to the brain. These sensory cells are usually components
of multiply connected cellular networks.These networks maintain the
health and function of the tissues and organs and serve as local control
systems for the tissue or organ’s function. Most collagenous tissues, including
bone and tendon, are examples of such tissues; organ examples include
the kidney and the digestive system. There are many more examples
described in this volume.The multiply connected cellular networks in these
tissues and organs control the remodeling of the tissues to accommodate
changes in their mechanical environment.