Perfect nematic order in confined monolayers of spindle-shaped cells
Perfect nematic order in confined monolayers of spindle-shaped cells
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DOI：
10.1039/c3sm52323c
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发表时间：
2014-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Silberzan, P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Duclos, G.;Garcia, S.;Silberzan, P.
在汇合处培养的伸长的、弱相互作用的、非极性的成纤维细胞（小鼠成纤维细胞NIH-3 T3）排列在一起，形成大的结构域（相关长度类似于500 μ m），在那里它们是完全有序的。我们研究的出现，这种介观的有序的二维组织通过量化的有序动力学。细胞最初是非常能动的，单层的特点是异常的密度波动，远离平衡系统的签名。随着细胞密度由于增殖而增加，细胞彼此对齐，形成这些大的定向结构域，同时，细胞运动和密度波动冻结。拓扑缺陷的特点是在很长一段时间内仍然被困在超导相，从而防止无限域的发展。当被限制在给定宽度（从30 mm至1.5 mm）的粘合剂条内时，细胞自发地与域边缘对齐。然后，该取向向图案中心传播。对于小于取向相关长度的宽度，单元在条纹的方向上完全对齐。在十字形图案中进行的实验表明，在两个竞争种群的情况下，细胞的数量和对齐程度都会影响最终的方向。
Elongated, weakly interacting, apolar, fibroblast cells (mouse fibroblasts NIH-3T3) cultured at confluence align together, forming large domains (correlation length similar to 500 mu m) where they are perfectly ordered. We study the emergence of this mesoscopic nematic order by quantifying the ordering dynamics in a two-dimensional tissue. Cells are initially very motile and the monolayer is characterized by anomalous density fluctuations, a signature of far-from-equilibrium systems. As the cell density increases because of proliferation, the cells align with each other forming these large oriented domains while, at the same time, the cellular movements and the density fluctuations freeze. Topological defects that are characteristic of nematic phases remain trapped at long times thereby preventing the development of infinite domains. When confined within adhesive stripes of given widths (from 30 mm to 1.5 mm) cells spontaneously align with the domain edges. This orientation then propagates toward the pattern center. For widths smaller than the orientation correlation length, cells perfectly align in the direction of the stripe. Experiments performed in cross-shaped patterns show that in the situation of two competing populations, both the number of cells and the degree of alignment impact the final orientation.