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Network characteristics of collective chemosensing
Bo Sun1, Guillaume Duclos2, Howard A Stone1
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|August 29, 2014
Summary
This study reveals how mammalian cells collectively sense chemicals through gap junctions. Cell communication patterns, influenced by distance and clustering, help predict cellular network behavior and gap junction function.
Area of Science:
- Cellular Biology
- Biophysics
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Collective sensing in nonexcitable cells relies on complex biochemical networks.
- Gap junction communication and individual cell heterogeneity are key features.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate integrated multicellular chemosensing.
- To analyze calcium dynamics in fibroblast cell colonies stimulated with adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Main Methods:
- Micropatterning of fibroblast cell colonies.
- Monitoring calcium dynamics in response to ATP.
- Analyzing cross-correlation functions of cell responses.
Main Results:
- Cross-correlation decay follows a power law with topological distance in large colonies.
- Strongly correlated cell pairs form clusters and approach percolation thresholds.
- Poisson distribution characteristics of cross-correlations enabled unitary conductance estimation.
Conclusions:
- Cellular network structure significantly impacts collective chemosensing.
- The study provides a biophysical model for understanding intercellular communication.
- Estimated gap junction unitary conductance aligns with experimental data.
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