论文标题
多细胞聚集体的逮捕合并
Arrested coalescence of multicellular aggregates
论文作者
论文摘要
已知多细胞骨料表现出液体样性质。通常研究两个细胞聚集体的融合过程，因为两个粘性液滴的合并。但是，组织是复杂的材料，可以表现出粘弹性。众所周知，弹性效应可以防止两滴完全融合，这是一种被称为被捕的聚结的现象。在这里，我们报告了干细胞聚集体中这种现象的存在，并提供了与实验一致的理论框架。此外，基于代理的模拟表明，细胞突出活性控制着固体到流体相变，表明可以在不恰当的过渡的附近发现被捕的聚结。通过分析融合过程的动力学并将其与纳米凹痕测量结合，我们获得了聚集体的有效粘度，剪切模量和表面张力。更普遍地，我们的工作提供了一种简单，快速且廉价的方法，可以表征粘弹性材料的机械性能。
Multicellular aggregates are known to exhibit liquid-like properties. The fusion process of two cell aggregates is commonly studied as the coalescence of two viscous drops. However, tissues are complex materials and can exhibit viscoelastic behaviour. It is known that elastic effects can prevent the complete fusion of two drops, a phenomenon known as arrested coalescence. Here we report the presence of this phenomenon in stem cell aggregates and provide a theoretical framework which agrees with the experiments. In addition, agent-based simulations show that cell protrusion activity controls a solid-to-fluid phase transition, revealing that arrested coalescence can be found in the vicinity of an unjamming transition. By analysing the dynamics of the fusion process and combining it with nanoindentation measurements, we obtain the effective viscosity, shear modulus and surface tension of the aggregates. More generally, our work provides a simple, fast and inexpensive method to characterize the mechanical properties of viscoelastic materials.
