Physical Mechanisms of Morphogenesis

组织形态发生是在胚胎中建立身体及其各种器官的形态，并通过这种过程带来成人的正常和不正常的变化，如伤口愈合和肿瘤侵袭。Newman博士和Forgacs博士建议进行跨学科的研究，研究“基质驱动的易位”的物理机制，以及颗粒或细胞与细胞外大分子之间的粘附性相互作用，这种相互作用在几个方面类似于组织形态发生。根据“润湿”和“渗流”的物理理论，对实验系统中颗粒的运动进行了分析。他们提出，细胞或颗粒和胶原纤维可以形成渗透网络，构成不同的物理相。然后，这些相可以沿着其他相或基质扩散，或在其他相或基质之间相互渗透。这些观点可能解释了组织的某些基本属性。通过操纵基质驱动的易位试验中的各种参数，如颗粒浓度和大小，以及胶原浓度，这些概念可以以一种在活组织中不可行的方式进行测试。此外，通过研究表现出渗流和润湿行为的系统的数学模型，他们可以评估这些想法是否足以解释组织的各种属性和行为。组织形态发生是一种复杂的现象，涉及细胞运动，最终形成成年生物体的最终形式。Newman博士和Forgacs博士试图在一个模拟细胞迁移行为的模型系统中分离和表征这些复杂过程的一个子集。他们将研究这一模型，试图洞察胚胎发育过程中更复杂的细胞迁移现象。

Tissue morphogenesis is the process by which the form of the body and its various organs are established in the embryo, and by which normal and abnormal changes in the adult, such as wound healing and tumor invasion, are brought about. Dr. Newman and Dr. Forgacs propose to conduct interdisciplinary studies on the physical mechanism of "matrix-driven translocation", and adhesive interaction between particles or cells and extracellular macromolecules that resembles tissue morphogenesis in several respects. The movement of particles in this experimental system will be analyzed in terms of the physical theories of "wetting" and "percolation". They proposed that cells or particles and collagen fibers can form percolation networks, which constitute distinct physical phases. These phases can then spread along, or interpenetrate between, other phases or substrata. These ideas may account for certain fundamental properties of tissues. By manipulating various parameters in the matrix-driven translocation assay, such as particle concentration and size, and collagen concentration, these concepts can be tested in a manner not feasible with living tissues. Moreover, by studying mathematical models of systems that exhibit percolative and wetting behavior, they can assess the adequacy of these ideas to explain various properties and behaviors of tissues. %%% Tissue morphogenesis is a complex phenomenon involving cell movements resulting ultimately in the final form of the adult organism. Drs. Newman and Forgacs have attempted to isolate and characterize a subset of these complex processes in a model system that mimics some of the behavior of migrating cells. They will study this model in an attempt to gain some insight into the more complex phenomena of cell migration during embryogenesis