Dokmegang Joel
NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2490:281-296. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2281-0_20.
An indispensable prerequisite of mammalian development is successful morphogenesis in the epiblast, the embryonic tissue that gives rise to all differentiated cells of the adult mammal. The right control of both epiblast morphogenesis and the events that regulate its shape in particular during implantation is henceforth of tremendous importance. However, monitoring the process of development in implanting human embryos is ethically and technically challenging, making it difficult to troubleshoot when things go wrong, as it is unfortunately the case with over 30% of pregnancy failures. Although modern in vitro techniques have proven very insightful lately, more tools are needed in the quest to elucidate mammalian and human development. Mathematical and computational modeling position themselves as helpful complementary tools in the biologist's toolbox, enabling the exploration of the living in silico, beyond the boundaries set by ethical concerns and the potential limitations of wet lab techniques. Here, we show how mathematical modeling and computer simulations can be used to emulate and investigate mechanisms driving epiblast shape changes in mouse and human embryos during implantation.
哺乳动物发育的一个不可或缺的前提条件是上胚层的成功形态发生，上胚层是一种胚胎组织，可产生成年哺乳动物的所有分化细胞。因此，对上胚层形态发生以及特别是在植入过程中调节其形状的事件进行正确控制极为重要。然而，监测植入人类胚胎的发育过程在伦理和技术上都具有挑战性，这使得在出现问题时难以进行故障排除，不幸的是，超过30%的妊娠失败就是这种情况。尽管现代体外技术最近已被证明非常有见地，但在探索哺乳动物和人类发育的过程中仍需要更多工具。数学和计算建模作为生物学家工具箱中有用的补充工具，能够超越伦理问题和湿实验室技术的潜在限制所设定的界限，在计算机上探索生命现象。在这里，我们展示了如何使用数学建模和计算机模拟来模拟和研究小鼠和人类胚胎在植入过程中驱动上胚层形状变化的机制。
