Modelling realistic 3D deformations of simple epithelia in dynamic homeostasis

• Published in: Mathematical biosciences 2022-10, Vol.352, p.108895-108895, Article 108895
• Main Authors: Germano, Domenic P.J., Johnston, Stuart T., Crampin, Edmund J., Osborne, James M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomechanics; Chaste; Deformable tissues; Mathematical biology; Multicellular; Simple Epithelia
• ISSN: 0025-5564; 1879-3134
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2022.108895

The maintenance of tissue and organ structures during dynamic homeostasis is often not well understood. In order for a system to be stable, cell renewal, cell migration and cell death must be finely balanced. Moreover, a tissue’s shape must remain relatively unchanged. Simple epithelial tissues occur in various structures throughout the body, such as the endothelium, mesothelium, linings of the lungs, saliva and thyroid glands, and gastrointestinal tract. Despite the prevalence of simple epithelial tissues, there are few models which accurately describe how these tissues maintain a stable structure. Here, we present a novel, 3D, deformable, multilayer, cell-centre model of a simple epithelium. Cell movement is governed by the minimisation of a bending potential across the epithelium, cell–cell adhesion, and viscous effects. We show that the model is capable of maintaining a consistent tissue structure while undergoing self renewal. We also demonstrate the model’s robustness under tissue renewal, cell migration and cell removal. The model presented here is a valuable advancement towards the modelling of tissues and organs with complex and generalised structures. •Simple epithelia models either capture cell topology or deformable nature of a tissue.•Here, we model both complex 3D cell topology and the deformable nature of the tissue.•Our model is robust to tissue relaxation, tissue renewal and within tissue cell migration.