Frontiers in growth and remodeling

Unlike common engineering materials, living matter can autonomously respond to environmental changes. Living structures can grow stronger, weaker, larger, or smaller within months, weeks, or days as a result of a continuous microstructural turnover and renewal. Hard tissues can adapt by increasing their density and grow strong. Soft tissues can adapt by increasing their volume and grow large. For more than three decades, the mechanics community has actively contributed to understand the phenomena of growth and remodeling from a mechanistic point of view. However, to date, there is no single, unified characterization of growth, which is equally accepted by all scientists in the field. Here we shed light on the continuum modeling of growth and remodeling of living matter, and give a comprehensive overview of historical developments and trends. We provide a state-of-the-art review of current research highlights, and discuss challenges and potential future directions. Using the example of volumetric growth, we illustrate how we can establish and utilize growth theories to characterize the functional adaptation of soft living matter. We anticipate this review to be the starting point for critical discussions and future research in growth and remodeling, with a potential impact on life science and medicine.

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► Living matter can autonomously respond to environmental changes.
► Hard tissues can adapt by increasing their density and grow strong.
► Soft tissues can adapt by increasing their volume and grow large.
► We review the continuum modeling of growth, and provide a unified approach towards characterizing living matter.
► Using the example of volumetric growth, we illustrate the modeling of soft biological tissues in health and disease.