What is happening at a cellular level when we stretch tissue leading to growth? For instance, when we pierce our ears or when women of the Kayan tribe lengthen their necks, are cells growing or multiplying?
Is physical tensions a growth factor that could cause mitosis, for instance?
In: Biology
There are typically 4 ways that tissue responds to stress: hypertrophy (enlargement of cells), hyperplasia (multiplication of cells), atrophy (shrinking) and metaplasia (change from one cell type to another). My assumption is that there is probably some hyperplasia that happens in your neck example, but there might also be scarring. When you piece your ears, there should be full resolution of the injury and there will be healing around the hole. No adaptation needed. If you think about stretch marks, there’s some scar tissue (replacement of damaged tissues with connective tissue) that forms when you have the expansion of skin quickly, however I don’t think that’s what going on in the other example. Your cells are frequently undergoing mitosis and as certain stressors increase at a reasonable pace, they can compensate. If not, we see the adaptations to stress mentioned above. I know this isn’t a complete answer, sorry.
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