Epithelial monolayers are the simplest tissues in multicellular organisms, yet they play a vital role in many physiological processes, including development, growth, and wound healing. During these processes, the epithelia are usually subjected to mechanical cues, and involve multiple scales acting at molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. Computational techniques provide a useful and convenient means to investigate biological and mechanical behaviors of cell monolayers. Here, we propose a structural stiffness matrix-based computational method that can accurately and rapidly evaluate the mechanical properties of cell monolayers. By harmoniously calculating spatial movements of cellular positions and changes in cellular shapes over time, the present method holds higher computational efficiency than orthodox vertex model, especially the time ratio of these two methods exceeds an order of magnitude for large-scale cell monolayers. Furthermore, the structural features of cells, neglected in other methods, can be naturally integrated in the present approach. Then, this method is employed to examine the effects of cell division direction and molecular and cellular level changes on mechanical behaviors of cell monolayers. Our predictions are in good agreement with a broad range of experiments. The proposed method with high accuracy and efficacy holds great promise for application in simulating large-scale biological tissues.

上皮单层是多细胞生物中最简单的组织，但它们在许多生理过程中发挥着至关重要的作用，包括发育、生长和伤口愈合。在这些过程中，上皮细胞通常受到机械信号的影响，并涉及在分子、细胞和组织水平上起作用的多个尺度。计算技术提供了一种有用且方便的方法来研究细胞单层的生物和机械行为。在这里，我们提出了一种基于结构刚度矩阵的计算方法，可以准确快速地评估细胞单层的机械性能。通过和谐地计算细胞位置的空间运动和细胞形状随时间的变化，本方法比正统的顶点模型具有更高的计算效率，特别是这两种方法的时间比超过了大规模细胞单层的一个数量级。此外，在其他方法中忽略的细胞结构特征可以自然地整合到本方法中。然后，该方法用于检查细胞分裂方向和分子和细胞水平变化对细胞单层力学行为的影响。我们的预测与广泛的实验非常吻合。所提出的具有高精度和有效性的方法在模拟大规模生物组织中具有很大的应用前景。该方法用于检查细胞分裂方向以及分子和细胞水平变化对细胞单层机械行为的影响。我们的预测与广泛的实验非常吻合。所提出的具有高精度和有效性的方法在模拟大规模生物组织中具有很大的应用前景。该方法用于检查细胞分裂方向以及分子和细胞水平变化对细胞单层机械行为的影响。我们的预测与广泛的实验非常吻合。所提出的具有高精度和有效性的方法在模拟大规模生物组织中具有很大的应用前景。