Center for Mathematical and Computational Biology, Center for Complex Biological Systems, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Biophys J. 2013 Jan 8;104(1):237-46. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2012.11.3807.
The spatial organization of stem cells into a niche is a key factor for growth and continual tissue renewal during development, sustenance, and regeneration. Stratified epithelia serve as a great context to study the spatial aspects of the stem cell niche and cell lineages by organizing into layers of different cell types. Several types of stratified epithelia develop morphologies with advantageous, protruding structures where stem cells reside, such as rete pegs and palisades of Vogt. Here, multistage, spatial cell lineage models for epithelial stratification are used to study how the stem cell niche influences epithelial morphologies. When the stem cell niche forms along a rigid basal lamina, relatively regular morphologies are maintained. In contrast, stem cell niche formation along a free-moving basal lamina may prompt distorted epithelial morphologies with stem cells accumulating at the tips of fingerlike structures that form. The correspondence between our simulated morphologies and developmental stages of the human epidermis is also explored. Overall, our work provides an understanding of how stratified epithelia may attain distorted morphologies and sheds light on the importance of the spatial aspects of the stem cell niche.
干细胞在龛位中的空间组织是其在发育、维持和再生过程中生长和持续组织更新的关键因素。分层上皮作为一个很好的背景，可以通过组织成不同类型的细胞层来研究干细胞龛位和细胞谱系的空间方面。几种类型的分层上皮形成具有有利的突出结构的形态，其中干细胞存在，如 rete 钉和 Vogt 栅栏。在这里，使用多阶段、空间细胞谱系模型来研究干细胞龛位如何影响上皮形态。当干细胞龛位沿着刚性基膜形成时，相对规则的形态得以维持。相比之下，沿着自由移动的基膜形成干细胞龛位可能会导致上皮形态扭曲，形成的指状结构的尖端聚集干细胞。我们模拟的形态与人类表皮的发育阶段之间也存在对应关系。总的来说，我们的工作提供了对分层上皮如何获得扭曲形态的理解，并阐明了干细胞龛位空间方面的重要性。
