Abstract

We measured the thickness of MDCK epithelia grown on substrates with a sinusoidal profile. We show that while at long wavelength the profile of the epithelium follows that of the substrate, at short wavelengths cells are thicker in valleys than on ridges. This is reminiscent of the so-called «healing length in the case of a thin liquid film wetting a rough solid substrate. We explore the ability of continuum mechanics models to account for these observations. Modeling the epithelium as a thin liquid film, with surface tension, does not fully account for the measurements. Neither does modeling the epithelium as a thin incompressible elastic film. On the contrary, the addition of an apical active stress gives satisfactory agreement with measurements, with one fitting parameter, the ratio between the active stress and the elastic modulus.

Graphic Abstract

中文翻译：

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波状基底上皮细胞的厚度：测量和连续模型

摘要

我们测量了在具有正弦轮廓的基板上生长的 MDCK 上皮细胞的厚度。我们表明，虽然在长波长下，上皮的轮廓遵循基板的轮廓，但在短波长下，细胞在山谷中比在脊上更厚。这让人想起所谓的“愈合长度”，即在液体薄膜润湿粗糙的固体基材的情况下。我们探索了连续介质力学模型解释这些观察的能力。将上皮细胞建模为具有表面张力的薄液膜，并不能完全解释测量结果。也没有将上皮细胞建模为薄的不可压缩的弹性膜。相反，添加顶端主动应力与测量结果具有令人满意的一致性，其中一个拟合参数是主动应力与弹性模量之间的比率。

图形摘要