Dr Marcin Zagórski from the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University and his collaborators from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria have published a paper in the prestigious journal Nature Physics. In the article, the scientists explain how the nervous tissue in the developing spinal cord initially behaves like a liquid and in several hours starts to resemble a solid.
During the development of the spinal cord, shortly after the closure of neural tube, cells divide rapidly, changing their location many times. A closer look into a single cell history reveals that its daughter cells become dispersed in the tissue after several divisions. Using a two-dimensional simulation of the tissue, taking into account cell divisions, elasticity and fluctuations in the cell internal tension, Dr Marcin Zagórski showed that in order to explain the observed level of fragmentation of daughter cell population, an additional factor was needed, namely, the movement of cell nucleus during the cell cycle, which resulted in changes in the cell apical surface. This movement caused some cells to expand, leading to local cell rearrangements. As a result of these rearrangements, the tissue became more fluid-like.
After 48 hours the nucleus movements slowed down more than two times, which corresponded to less frequent cell divisions. As a result, the population of daughter cells stayed clustered. The research was conducted on mouse embryos, but the identified mechanisms influencing the spread of cells in the growing tissue can be applied in tissue engineering, and, in the long term, in the design of neuroregenerative therapies, the Faculty website reports.
The article ‘Cell cycle dynamics control fluidity of the developing mouse neuroepithelium’ is available on the Nature journal website.
