Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 17;15(11):e0242547. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242547. eCollection 2020.
Several previous studies have shown that when a cell that has taken up nanoparticles divides, the nanoparticles are inherited by the two daughter cells in an asymmetrical fashion, with one daughter cell receiving more nanoparticles than the other. This interesting observation is typically demonstrated either indirectly using mathematical modelling of high-throughput experimental data or more directly by imaging individual cells as they divide. Here we suggest that measurements of the coefficient of variation (standard deviation over mean) of the number of nanoparticles per cell over the cell population is another means of assessing the degree of asymmetry. Using simulations of an evolving cell population, we show that the coefficient of variation is sensitive to the degree of asymmetry and note its characteristic evolution in time. As the coefficient of variation is readily measurable using high-throughput techniques, this should allow a more rapid experimental assessment of the degree of asymmetry.
先前的几项研究表明，当一个摄取了纳米粒子的细胞分裂时，纳米粒子以不对称的方式被两个子细胞继承，一个子细胞接收的纳米粒子比另一个多。这种有趣的观察结果通常通过对高通量实验数据的数学建模间接证明，或者通过对正在分裂的单个细胞进行更直接的成像来证明。在这里，我们建议，测量每个细胞内纳米粒子数量的变异系数（标准差除以平均值）是评估不对称程度的另一种方法。我们通过对不断进化的细胞群体的模拟表明，变异系数对不对称程度很敏感，并注意到它随时间的特征演化。由于变异系数可以通过高通量技术轻松测量，因此这应该允许更快速地通过实验评估不对称程度。
