Surface tension determines tissue shape and growth kinetics

The collective self-organization of cells into three-dimensional structures can give rise to emergent physical properties such as fluid behavior. Here, we demonstrate that tissues growing on curved surfaces develop shapes with outer boundaries of constant mean curvature, similar to the energy minimi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2019-09, Vol.5 (9), p.eaav9394-eaav9394
Main Authors: Ehrig, S, Schamberger, B, Bidan, C M, West, A, Jacobi, C, Lam, K, Kollmannsberger, P, Petersen, A, Tomancak, P, Kommareddy, K, Fischer, F D, Fratzl, P, Dunlop, John W C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biophysics
Cell Culture Techniques
Cell Proliferation
Cell Shape
Cells, Cultured
Kinetics
Materials Science
Mice
Models, Biological
Osteoblasts - cytology
SciAdv r-articles
Surface Tension
Tissue Engineering
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Summary:The collective self-organization of cells into three-dimensional structures can give rise to emergent physical properties such as fluid behavior. Here, we demonstrate that tissues growing on curved surfaces develop shapes with outer boundaries of constant mean curvature, similar to the energy minimizing forms of liquids wetting a surface. The amount of tissue formed depends on the shape of the substrate, with more tissue being deposited on highly concave surfaces, indicating a mechano-biological feedback mechanism. Inhibiting cell-contractility further revealed that active cellular forces are essential for generating sufficient surface stresses for the liquid-like behavior and growth of the tissue. This suggests that the mechanical signaling between cells and their physical environment, along with the continuous reorganization of cells and matrix is a key principle for the emergence of tissue shape.
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aav9394