Bone is a unique mechanosensitive tissue in which mechanical loading results in bone adaptation.
The loading-induced fluid flow is thought to provide a biophysical signal that imparts information to the bone cells involved. The associated shear stresses have also been shown to elicit changes in the concentration of intracellular calcium. The aim of this presentation is to outline the experiments and analyses to be conducted to further elucidate how mechanical information is transmitted into biochemical signals. Experiments will be discussed that quantify intracellular calcium changes in osteocyte-like cells. In addition, an information theoretic approach will be explored to analyze the resulting data.