Szabo Andras, Perryn Erica D, Czirok Andras
Department of Biological Physics, Eotvos University, Budapest, Hungary.
Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Jan 19;98(3):038102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.038102. Epub 2007 Jan 18.
Vascular and nonvascular cells often form an interconnected network in vitro, similar to the early vascular bed of warm-blooded embryos. Our time-lapse recordings show that the network forms by extending sprouts, i.e., multicellular linear segments. To explain the emergence of such structures, we propose a simple model of preferential attraction to stretched cells. Numerical simulations reveal that the model evolves into a quasistationary pattern containing linear segments, which interconnect above the critical volume fraction of 0.2. In the quasistationary state, the generation of new branches offset the coarsening driven by surface tension. In agreement with empirical data, the characteristic size of the resulting polygonal pattern is density-independent within a wide range of volume fractions.
血管细胞和非血管细胞在体外常常形成一个相互连接的网络，类似于温血胚胎的早期血管床。我们的延时记录显示，该网络是通过延伸芽（即多细胞线性段）形成的。为了解释这种结构的出现，我们提出了一个对拉伸细胞优先吸引的简单模型。数值模拟表明，该模型演变成一种包含线性段的准静态模式，这些线性段在临界体积分数0.2以上相互连接。在准静态状态下，新分支的产生抵消了由表面张力驱动的粗化过程。与实验数据一致，在很宽的体积分数范围内，所得多边形模式的特征尺寸与密度无关。
