Effect of chronic mechanical compression on immortalized human astrocytes

Immortalized human astrocytes were subjected to a controlled in vitro model of chronic mechanical compression to investigate how solid stress—similar to that exerted by growing brain tumors—directly affects astrocyte transcriptional programs. RNA sequencing was performed after 24 hours of compression to measure sustained mechanotransductive responses. Compressed astrocytes showed robust induction of AP-1-associated immediate-early genes and activation of NF-?B–dependent inflammatory pathways. These data define the transcriptional signatures by which human astrocytes detect and respond to mechanical stress, providing a resource for understanding mechanobiology and neuroinflammatory signaling in diseases featuring mass effect, including glioblastoma and traumatic brain injury. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of immortalized human astrocytes cultured under control conditions or subjected to 24 hours of chronic mechanical compression equivalent to 0.14 kPa of stress.