Dr. Primož Ziherl: Models of simple tissues
Povzetek:
Models of simple tissues
Dr. Primož Ziherl, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana and Jozef Stefan Institute
Morphological diversity of animal cells is truly immense, and thinking of a unified theory to describe their mechanical properties is unlikely to bear any fruit. Yet there are many examples of tissues and cell aggregates exhibiting some kind of order that can be related to a physical mechanism - be it a packing constraint, a dynamical process, or an energy to be minimized. We review several equilibrium models of animal cell shapes based on bending, adhesion, and surface energies.
In particular, we describe the structure of one-cell-thick epithelia which can be viewed as a polygonal tiling of a plane. Also introduced is a 2D theory of gastrulation in the fruit fly that is based on undifferentiated cells. This model shows that generic mechanics may play an important role in the embryonic development. Finally we discuss regular aggregates of polyhedral vesicles which closely resemble certain types of mammalian epidermis and liver.
