Mechanical stimulation has been shown to regulate the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. However, the effects of the mechanical stress on the sternness or related molecular mechanisms have not been well determined. Pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are used as good materials for cell transplantation therapy and research of mammalian development, since they can self-renew infinitely and differentiate into various cell lineages. Here we demonstrated that the mechanical stimulation to human iPS cells altered alignment of actin fibers and expressions of the pluripotent related genes Nanog, POU5f1 and Sox2. In the mechanically stimulated iPS cells, small GTPase Rho was activated and interestingly, ART phosphorylation was decreased. Inhibition of Rho-associated kinase ROCK recovered the ART phosphorylation and the gene expressions. These results clearly suggested that the Rho/ROCK is a potent primary effector of mechanical stress in the pluripotent stem cells and it participates to pluripotency-related signaling cascades as an upper stream regulator. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.